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Details on Jony Ive's 'Very, Very Flat' Design for iOS 7

I'm trying to work out why Skeumorphism is suddenly viewed as a bad thing. From an academic perspective, I agree that when you copy an older paradigm (i.e. the Filofax, as the original Lotus Organizer did), then you risk assimilating some of its limitations. OTOH, I see no risks in retaining the top level iconography.

It will be interesting to see what these changes actually mean.
 
calisurfboy said:
My dad, who is 68, recently purchased an iPhone and I received about a dozen calls within the first five minutes on how to use the phone.

For starters, there is no instruction manual of sorts included with the iPhone and so you have to rely upon "ease of use" to use it. Unfortunately, many of the things my father was looking for was buried deep within the iOS.

I think, besides a cosmetics update, the main structure of iOS needs fine tuning. Too many windows or clicks to get to what you need or you find its spread across several areas and not centralized.

It would be nice to have a central page with widgets for information you constantly are checking or need instead of having to click on repeated apps to find that information. Also, the ability to multi task or have two apps open on the same screen would be very helpful. Its difficult flipping back and forth when trying to find and type in phone numbers, links, etc.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth - your dad isn't alone. And this is exactly the type of discussion point I bring up when people try to reuse Apple's marketing spin "it just works."

If that were true - there wouldn't be lines at the genius bar nor would Apple have classes at the Apple store on how to use iDevices.

Everything has a learning curve.
 
I really hope this works out.

If Apple end up creating some ugly Android/Windows-like interface, I'll be pretty upset.
 
samcraig said:
For what it's worth - your dad isn't alone. And this is exactly the type of discussion point I bring up when people try to reuse Apple's marketing spin "it just works."

If that were true - there wouldn't be lines at the genius bar nor would Apple have classes at the Apple store on how to use iDevices.

Everything has a learning curve.
Click to expand...

It's just a tagline really. Doesn't mean Apple is implying that 100% of the time it works and anyone who tells you it doesn't is lying.

Of course it doesn't "just work" for everyone just like Snickers doesn't "satisfy" everyone and Folgers may not be the best part of waking up for some, and some people may not say "I'm lovin' it" after eating McDonald's.
 
I just hope that the latest version of iTunes on Mac is not a preview of things to come. To me that is a mess that is confusing to navigate and a big step backwards.
I can use it fine, however I tend to get asked lots of questions by friends and family about computer stuff and have had more questions on the latest version than any other program in recent memory.

Now by flat do they mean 'less levels of navigation', or 'flat looking' by eliminating (for example) the edges of buttons?

I have never understood why when you hit the app switcher that you have a massive screen, but only a tiny bit of it is utilized with 1 row of apps. Why not pack it full of stuff. Eg double press the button, then scroll to the left twice to get to the Airplay options. Why not fit all play/pause and volume and wifi shortcuts directly in the app switcher on the first screen. Just think of the man hours and thumb movements saved across 200 million iOS devices!!!!
 
I'm really hoping this just means "flat as in Mac OS 9 and Rhapsody/OS X Server (1.0)", and not "flat as in Windows 8". Tone back the glitz, but don't eliminate it completely in favour for a bunch of squares someone took the paint bucket tool to.

-SC
 
Zwhaler said:
If they don't include quick settings, then I don't care about any of the other features I will not buy an iPhone.
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I don't get the compulsion to constantly janitor WiFi and Bluetooth. If I was going to live forever I might find the time to fiddle with those settings, but as it stands now, no way. In about two seconds there'll be a better battery and location monitoring that'll make it moot anyway.
 
calisurfboy said:
My dad, who is 68, recently purchased an iPhone and I received about a dozen calls within the first five minutes on how to use the phone.

For starters, there is no instruction manual of sorts included with the iPhone and so you have to rely upon "ease of use" to use it. Unfortunately, many of the things my father was looking for was buried deep within the iOS.

I think, besides a cosmetics update, the main structure of iOS needs fine tuning. Too many windows or clicks to get to what you need or you find its spread across several areas and not centralized.

It would be nice to have a central page with widgets for information you constantly are checking or need instead of having to click on repeated apps to find that information. Also, the ability to multi task or have two apps open on the same screen would be very helpful. Its difficult flipping back and forth when trying to find and type in phone numbers, links, etc.
Click to expand...

The thing is, your Dad didn't grow up with these things, like most of us did when we were young, so yes, someone like your Dad IS going to need some formal training by you or an Apple person. Im 39 and I didn't 'grow up' with computers, though I did grow up with video game systems and then PCs in the late 80s through 90s.

When I had my parents buy an iPad, I told them to have the Apple store employee take them through the set up and basic use. They picked it up within 1/2 hour of the walk through.

Myself, I didn't need any explanation. It did "just work" out of the box for me and was simple to pick up and use right away.

Apple products are pretty simple to use, in fact very simple if you have basic computer knowledge, which unfortunately most 60+ individuals do not have.
 
Flattened, like road-kill

Without Skeumorphism what should icons be based on? If UIs with graphics resembling Address Books and other physical items like a compass are reduced, streamlined or otherwise "flattened" further wont we just end up with text based interfaces? Bringing up the terminal to manipulate the layers in OS X is vastly more efficient and less resource intensive than using the GUI; who would make an argument to the contrary without being ready to defend the notion that the most educated users don't need icons? But who wants to be the guy to tell marketing they're going to be selling a text based iPhone?
 
I don't understand all these people who think iOS 7 is going to look like Windows Metro or whatever. Flat doesn't necessarily mean "tiles" and "pastel colors". I think we can take some hints from the WWDC logo, at the very least.
 
I hope this UI has more matte look to it, like some of the apps like Tweetbot that have this UI, they look nice.
 
A clean home screen with Just a notifications box widget (ala HTC Sense ) and then access to the Springboard/app drawers would be awesome.

Better yet if you could could an apps to that screen and folders, but still avoid the grid of apps that is every other page in the UI. (Except the search page as it were, perhaps that needs to be on the home screen as well )
 
I really hope Apple isn't obsessing over the aesthetic philosophy of flatness; however, it sure sounds like they are. This is the most pointless and inane concern I can imagine.

I don't give a rats ass how the UI looks--JUST MAKE IT MORE FUNCTIONAL. The multitasking is and has been absurdly bad...fix it. And, why does one have to leave the app they're in and drill down 18 menus to adjust settings? Oh, and how about fixing SIRI so it works more than half the time???
 
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It's not enough to make things flat again - which I love - but they also need to make apps like iCal work in the simple way they used to. Hey Apple - you are over designing the apps while doing away with useful features.
 
No matter what...everyone is most likely going to hate it haha.

Then two years later...love it.
 
randyj said:
I just hope that the latest version of iTunes on Mac is not a preview of things to come. To me that is a mess that is confusing to navigate and a big step backwards.
I can use it fine, however I tend to get asked lots of questions by friends and family about computer stuff and have had more questions on the latest version than any other program in recent memory.

Now by flat do they mean 'less levels of navigation', or 'flat looking' by eliminating (for example) the edges of buttons?

I have never understood why when you hit the app switcher that you have a massive screen, but only a tiny bit of it is utilized with 1 row of apps. Why not pack it full of stuff. Eg double press the button, then scroll to the left twice to get to the Airplay options. Why not fit all play/pause and volume and wifi shortcuts directly in the app switcher on the first screen. Just think of the man hours and thumb movements saved across 200 million iOS devices!!!!
Click to expand...

Don't know about Mac iTunes, but v. 11 of iTunes for PC got worse this iteration. It's now more difficult to use and they've added tiny graphical glitches. The only improvement for me is the ability to start a new playlist with a selected song.

...and yes the App switcher is bad in just about every way.
 
Here is to Jony's team dumping that absurdly blurred drop shadow on active views. Get rid of that crap.

The more modern, clean and productive in 2013 to what NeXTSTEP was in 1996 the better. In essence, the UI should be recognized for its functionality, clean and minimalized look while getting out of your productivity and consumption.
 
Flat design already there; since years; direct in front of each Star Trek fan

image.jpg
 
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