I am not usually one to jump into rash or overzealous criticism. In fact, this is the first time I find myself fundamentally at odds with Apple’s direction.
Design is a discipline. It is an art that demands mastery. You guide the eye through color, form, clarity, movement—all with one goal: to allow users to work with focus, free from distraction and novelty gimmicks. The more complex the system, the harder it is to hold it together as a unified whole. And at Apple, that unity is now fracturing—disastrously.
Distracting, meaningless frills have even crept into the venerable macOS. Menu items cluttered with gratuitous icons have left many of us laughing bitterly. But one does not need to be a GUI designer to feel a sense of shock at what is unfolding. It seems as though the professional, cross-disciplinary guardians of order have been sidelined—or worse, sabotaged.
The inconsistency is glaring. Compare the Apple Music app icon with that of Apple Music Classical, and you’ll see it instantly. These uneven levels of execution appear two or three times on every single screen—a phenomenon unthinkable in Apple’s past.
Of course, there will always be contrarians who find the new chaos “livelier.” Yet in serious design, the rule has long been clear: use as few attractors as possible. Advertising thrives on noise; design thrives on restraint. Apple’s former strength lay in its calm, professional aesthetic. Even younger audiences quickly learn to appreciate the power of an unflustered, distraction-free environment. The outside world is noisy enough—Apple should not mirror that jittery zeitgeist with a sloppy, inconsistent GUI.
It was better before.
And in decades of using Apple products, I never imagined I would have to say that—so fundamentally.
