Not only that, but it also amazes me how many people suddenly seem to be design experts, yet how many of these critics are actually professional designers? Well, I am a professional designer, and while I think there are some inconsistencies and flaws here and there, overall they are moving in the right direction and the sheer volume of hate leveled at these icons is unwarranted.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Famed Mac Icon Designer Says iOS 7 Icons Are a 'Good Direction'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not only that, but it also amazes me how many people suddenly seem to be design experts, yet how many of these critics are actually professional designers? Well, I am a professional designer, and while I think there are some inconsistencies and flaws here and there, overall they are moving in the right direction and the sheer volume of hate leveled at these icons is unwarranted.
iOS is for the masses, not solely for graphic designers.
They can have their own opinions too.
You can do vector art with any color palette...
In fact, I'd be quite surprised if many of the pre-iOS-7 icons weren't (also?) originally designed as vector, then rasterized to appropriate dimensions before inclusion in the final project.
Good points on why iOS 7 icons needs more work...
I think these previous comments sum up accurately (and rightly) the initial first impressions of the new look icons in the upcoming iOS 7 this fall. Hopefully Apple gets to further refine them between now and the fall release of the new OS.
I think these previous comments sum up accurately (and rightly) the initial first impressions of the new look icons in the upcoming iOS 7 this fall. Hopefully Apple gets to further refine them between now and the fall release of the new OS.
It's important to not confuse the design direction with the current state of the design. It's possible that one doesn't like the icons, but that doesn't mean Apple has taken the design in the wrong direction.
I feel that iOS 7, overall, have a better, more consistent and nicer-looking design. The use of shapes, colors and the layers all contribute to this. The main idea is this: simpler, less serious-looking and lighter. These are, in my mind, good things for iOS.
However, there are of course many things that don't yet fit. The camera icon, for example, is the most boring icon for one of the most important apps. There are many ways to depict a camera, or a lens, but the generic grey "camera icon" that just looks like Adobe Bridge's "camera import" icon just looks boring, especially for such an exciting app.
Apple tends to make ultra-detailed icons, with often photo-realistic details (look at the OS X icons for Pages, Safari and Mail), which is a huge difference from other companies (Adobe, MS Office, etc ). In OS X, this doesn't look strange or out of place, as OS X is a complex and varied system where inconsistency and varying degrees of detail is absolutely normal.
In iOS, however, things are different, and textures, details, shadows, shines, etc seem a little too much, and "dishonest" since we're talking about a mobile system, which is meant to be simple, quick and light. Apple understood this and are giving iOS its own personality.
Some things don't yet work perfectly, but I think those things are in minority, and hopefully they'll fix them.
I feel that iOS 7, overall, have a better, more consistent and nicer-looking design. The use of shapes, colors and the layers all contribute to this. The main idea is this: simpler, less serious-looking and lighter. These are, in my mind, good things for iOS.
However, there are of course many things that don't yet fit. The camera icon, for example, is the most boring icon for one of the most important apps. There are many ways to depict a camera, or a lens, but the generic grey "camera icon" that just looks like Adobe Bridge's "camera import" icon just looks boring, especially for such an exciting app.
Apple tends to make ultra-detailed icons, with often photo-realistic details (look at the OS X icons for Pages, Safari and Mail), which is a huge difference from other companies (Adobe, MS Office, etc ). In OS X, this doesn't look strange or out of place, as OS X is a complex and varied system where inconsistency and varying degrees of detail is absolutely normal.
In iOS, however, things are different, and textures, details, shadows, shines, etc seem a little too much, and "dishonest" since we're talking about a mobile system, which is meant to be simple, quick and light. Apple understood this and are giving iOS its own personality.
Some things don't yet work perfectly, but I think those things are in minority, and hopefully they'll fix them.
According to Steve Jobs, he believed that design was not subjective but universal, and could be taught.
Very smart idea, and it makes sense comparing the iOS 7 color palette and design with past marketing. The iPod banners and ads spring to mind. I would have not thought to bring in the marketing team, but as designers, that's very brilliant.
----------
Contrast is badly needed in iOS, one of the few issues I take with the design. I like the icons, however a little nuance and gradient wouldn't hurt. Using it for a few days, I lowered the brightness a great deal to distinguish lines, etc. from the white backgrounds. Some with bad eyesight have found it difficult to navigate. Overall, I'm loving it.
I'm not so big on pastels. It's a personal thing.
I like it when things like that are accomplished through color choices between icons and backgrounds or accompanying shades. You tend to need more contrast between them if the background is too busy, as the icons should stand out. I disliked the way they accomplished it with faked lighting and heavy gradients. In fact if real lighting hit the screen from the angle implied by the icons, it would not make for something very readable. I just prefer direct and distinct in that area, although I would find this perfectly usable.
I happen to be a "professional" designer too.
As another designer said something along the lines of: "I feel as though my design vocabulary has been reduced to a hundred words". Apple has spent the past half decade building high quality software around textures and details. Did they go overboard a bit in iOS 6 and 10.7/10.8? Sure. Does this warrant stripping out EVERYTHING and going with a minimalistic design? No.
Personally, I feel iOS 7 is a seriously hostile move towards those of us who have made a career doing the exact kind of work Apple is now 100% determined to eliminate. Nice, professionally made full colour icons? Forget it, let's go with 5 minute vector icons instead. Nice, professionally made full colour textured applications and innovative user interfaces? Forget it, the future is in white and black with fonts that float around and an unnecessary amount of animation.
Apple will alienate their entire existing developer core with this stuff. Will those of us who leave be replaced with others? Sure. However, this minimalistic style will lead to applications that feel cheap and look cheap. iOS will then suffer as a whole, and this entire house of cards is going to come crashing down.
-SC
Absolutely agree (esp on pastels
). I disliked iOS 5/6 as they were too busy and inconsistent (skeuomorphic design, blah). I prefer the new direction for its simplicity and removal of "gloss", although a little depth/character w/o losing simplicity is important to differentiate text, lines, etc. Example, Notes or Calendar, the white background is very indistinguishable from the subtle gray lines, bars, separators, etc proving difficult to read and enter info. A huge issue is the new keyboard; the subtle differentiation between keys and the keyboard background has made typing difficult, and I'm a fast typer in iOS.
Absolutely agree (esp on pastels
Yeah, I would say that they stripped out a bit too much visual information from the UI, and some of the design has required fracturing the look in order to support it. Hate linen if you want, but it created a consistent background that you could overlay a particular type of text over. The frosted glass style used for the control center and notification center views, along with it's more subtle use elsewhere actually makes it harder to make sure the text is readable in all cases.
I do like the direction, but I would like the pendulum to swing a little back from where it wound up with iOS 7. I was actually thinking closer to something like Google's Maps app for iOS, or a refinement of iOS's roots, similar to how OS X has refined from 10.0-10.6.
Over saturarted icon and skinny fonts
The new icons are too simple and the color is too bright and over saturated color and the font is too skinny and harder to read
The new icons are too simple and the color is too bright and over saturated color and the font is too skinny and harder to read
I agree with this. The whole UI is also really inconsistent. In iOS 6, you can go into any part of an app expecting to know exactly what each button does. In iOS 7 beta 1, anything goes.
----------
I don't agree with Steve Jobs that often, but he was pretty much right about this. Look at classic vs popular/trendy design. 1960s Ferraris are classic and look good to any generation, most people in general. They are objectively designed well. AMC Pacers, most 90s cars, and Priuses are/were trendy but just look terrible now and/or in the future. In fact, I think the Prius is supposed to look bad because futuristic, advanced concept cars always look bad.
Oh yeah, music too. I remember when most people thought that "Boots with the Fur" or whatever was the greatest song ever.
Last edited:
Absolutely agree (esp on pastels
I haven't looked over it that closely. I'm just browsing photos. The old one with the glossy finishes reminded me of fake lens flare. I find extremely overt visual cues to be kind of cheesy. It's different with the calendar that you mentioned. Framing elements need to be distinct enough to be useful. They serve a functional purpose. The excess gradients are just to provide a sense of depth, which I dislike. I prefer good juxtaposition of colors, especially those that aren't hostile to common forms of color blindness or old people. Given the clarity of modern displays, things don't have to be terribly overt to be readable and intuitive.
I still hate typing on phones. My fingers aren't large, but it's annoying. Beyond that I don't like to get too sucked into my phone all the time. When they remade Tron, I thought it would have been funny if the main character was instead sucked into a smartphone or iPad
.
"We ran out of green felt" -- Craig Federighi
Craig has really turned a corner from his sweaty trembly self on his first couple of presentations. Looking forward to seeing him present again.
I'm good with the icons, but the newsstand icon looks out of place. It just doesn't fit.
Note that she said "generally." I think that most people are also pleased with the new icons, even thought there's a couple of inconsistent, amateurish, ugly ones (yes Safari and Control Center, I'm talking about you).
What's wrong with this icon?
Ok, so I realize I am just stupid. Yet, I don't understand the need to revert to basic icons for apps. The icons themselves have little impact on the OS, so I don't understand the visual simplification aspect of iOS 7. I have heard it referred to as "flat". I myself prefer graphically pleasing elaborate icons as opposed to super simple 8 bit icons. Why the change? what am i missing, and please accept that I already understand that I am obviously an imbecile, so reinforcement of that fact is unnecessary. Any additional revelations would be appreciated, however. Thank you.
Ok, so I realize I am just stupid. Yet, I don't understand the need to revert to basic icons for apps. The icons themselves have little impact on the OS, so I don't understand the visual simplification aspect of iOS 7. I have heard it referred to as "flat". I myself prefer graphically pleasing elaborate icons as opposed to super simple 8 bit icons. Why the change? what am i missing, and please accept that I already understand that I am obviously an imbecile, so reinforcement of that fact is unnecessary. Any additional revelations would be appreciated, however. Thank you.