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Is iOS 7 too "trendy"?

snowcrash

snowcrash

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 30, 2011
238
11
Boston MA, USA
Not trolling or bashing iOS 7, but have a serious thought/question.

For the most part iOS has looked pretty much the same since the inital release and though people feel it got stale, it's been years of the same so rightfully so, it showed some pretty stronge staying power.

The move to the minimal, bright, flat, is a very hot trend right now but is it too much of a fad for real staying power? I kind of look at iOS 7 as the 80s. While it was cool to wear your neon green Oakley frogskins and bright pink leg warmers at the time it came and went pretty fast. At the time everyone thought it was awesome. Looking back it was a little silly lol. Throwing back and going "retro" doesn't mean it was good and had the staying power, just is peoples nostalgia. Anyway...

Do you think this move to flatter design (when it comes to technology not to design in general) has the staying power or is it just a fad/phase. I like the idea of a mature OS, minimal design but is this the right direction to take and are they doing it correctly? (Or is anyone for that matter).

I have a slight feeling that iOS 7 and 8 (as well as what Windows is doing) may be the only versions like this where as iOS 9+ will be another round of radical changes. I can't see this trend sticking around and having the longevity as other designs.
 
snowcrash said:
Not trolling or bashing iOS 7, but have a serious thought/question.

For the most part iOS has looked pretty much the same since the inital release and though people feel it got stale, it's been years of the same so rightfully so, it showed some pretty stronge staying power.

The move to the minimal, bright, flat, is a very hot trend right now but is it too much of a fad for real staying power? I kind of look at iOS 7 as the 80s. While it was cool to wear your neon green Oakley frogskins and bright pink leg warmers at the time it came and went pretty fast. At the time everyone thought it was awesome. Looking back it was a little silly lol. Throwing back and going "retro" doesn't mean it was good and had the staying power, just is peoples nostalgia. Anyway...

Do you think this move to flatter design (when it comes to technology not to design in general) has the staying power or is it just a fad/phase. I like the idea of a mature OS, minimal design but is this the right direction to take and are they doing it correctly? (Or is anyone for that matter).

I have a slight feeling that iOS 7 and 8 (as well as what Windows is doing) may be the only versions like this where as iOS 9+ will be another round of radical changes. I can't see this trend sticking around and having the longevity as other designs.
Click to expand...

Ironically, I remember someone saying the old iOS style was only cool at the time, where as flat designs like iOS 7 are timeless. I personally feel the complete opposite. I remember when I got my first iPhone back in 2008 running iOS 2 and that same design lasted for 6 years years and I still think it looks fine. iOS 7 on the other hand looks horrible within just a few months of being introduced. Can anyone really imagine staring at this iOS 7 design for 6 years? Yeah right... I predict people will be sick of this flat colourful nonsense within a year. So much for timeless. :rolleyes:
 
Design trends shift over time yes. Just look at desktop operating systems. So what?

iOS 6 was following a 5 year old trend. Seriously. Just wait a month and look back at it. It looks so dated.
 
snappyfool said:
Design trends shift over time yes. Just look at desktop operating systems. So what?

iOS 6 was following a 5 year old trend. Seriously. Just wait a month and look back at it. It looks so dated.
Click to expand...

Been using iOS 7 since July and what you said is quite right. iOS 6 looks so outed after fiddling with iOS 7 for months.
 
I think the design in general reflects certain trends that are and have been around for a while. Some of the garish colors and the over use of white are to me the trendiest part of the redesign. The white trend is seen as being an fast way to connote "clean" design which makes sense in print, but for UI it can just be a blinding backdrop.
 
Trendy is what I lot of young people like. Maybe 45 and under. It's modern, it's hip and that type of stuff will appeal the the majority of the people that buy their software- younger individuals. It's also trending in many advertisements and font found in everyday occurrences. People like simple with a splash of colour.

In my opinion, the phone looks good when you use the plain stock wallpapers. The icons kind of do too much for a busy background. White symbolizes "refresh" or "rebirth" so it's more of a clean look for users to get used to.
 
darngooddesign said:
Flatter style has been going on for several years now. Its hardly new.
Click to expand...

I don't see how that's relevant. Just because other companies are doing it doesn't mean that Apple have to as well. And even if flat designs were the way forward, they should have done a MUCH better job. The overuse of white and bright pastel colours is disgusting.

Like I said earlier, can you imagine yourself using this iOS 7 design for the next 5-6 years? I'd be very surprised if anyone answered yes to that question.

The original design was easy on the eyes, efficient and had nice artwork. iOS 7's design is full of white space, over saturated colours, cartoony artwork, poor colour choices, hard to read text, and time consuming animations.
 
Last edited:
TheRainKing said:
I don't see how that's relevant. Just because other companies are doing it doesn't mean that Apple have to as well. And even if flat designs were the way forward, they should have done a MUCH better job. The overuse of white and bright pastel colours is disgusting.

Like I said earlier, can you imagine yourself using this iOS 7 design for the next 5-6 years? I'd be very surprised if anyone answered yes to that question. Meanwhile, the original iOS design held up just fine for that same amount of time.

So what's the difference between the two? One of them is easy on the eyes, efficient and has great artwork for the icons. The other one is full of over saturated colours, white space and time consuming animations.
Click to expand...

Its relevant because people, who haven't paid attention to the last few years of UX design, are pretending that flatter design is some brand new trend that Apple jumped on.

I don't have to imagine using it for the next 7 years as I expect visual adjustments will happen at a greater pace. However, I have no problem using it for the next couple of years.
 
darngooddesign said:
Its relevant because people, who haven't paid attention to the last few years of UX design, are pretending that flatter design is some brand new trend that Apple jumped on.

I don't have to imagine using it for the next 7 years as I expect visual adjustments will happen at a greater pace. However, I have no problem using it for the next couple of years.
Click to expand...

Regardless, there is difference between making a UI more flat and straight up ruining it. OS X has gotten flatter over the last 10 years but it still looks great.
 
I think it will stay flatter but tone itself down over the years. The same way OSX started all candy colored with blue glossy buttons and pin stripes but found its way to a toned down flat aluminum and glass look.

Once we're all sick of that, skeumorphism will be back in a fresh way and not so gaudy.
 
darngooddesign said:
Its relevant because people, who haven't paid attention to the last few years of UX design, are pretending that flatter design is some brand new trend that Apple jumped on.

I don't have to imagine using it for the next 7 years as I expect visual adjustments will happen at a greater pace. However, I have no problem using it for the next couple of years.
Click to expand...

I'm not "pretending" it's a new trend. Flat design has been around for ages, not just in tech but in design in general. My point is how Apple and others are going about it. The move to flat/simple/mature design is a given in just about anything. That's not my point.

You kind of make my point by saying "a couple years" and "expect visual enhancements" and even say "at a grater pace". That's kind of what I'm getting at. Does the current version have the staying power or not.
 
snowcrash said:
I'm not "pretending" it's a new trend. Flat design has been around for ages, not just in tech but in design in general. My point is how Apple and others are going about it. The move to flat/simple/mature design is a given in just about anything. That's not my point.

You kind of make my point by saying "a couple years" and "expect visual enhancements" and even say "at a grater pace". That's kind of what I'm getting at. Does the current version have the staying power or not.
Click to expand...

My point is that I want it to change again after a few years. I don't want to wait seven years to get a new look, and I'm happy using the current look until then.
 
Design is cyclical. The longer people stare at "flat" design, the more and more they'll crave a return of the shadowing, glossy gradients, and overall abundance of fine detail that iOS 1-6 were famous for.

For now, Apple has adjusted with the times to give iOS a fresh new look and I think it was the right thing to do. iOS 7 is about more than the "flattening" of the design though. In time, it to will look dated and Apple will simply pivot to something else. I think it's fine.
 
TheRainKing said:
Ironically, I remember someone saying the old iOS style was only cool at the time, where as flat designs like iOS 7 are timeless. I personally feel the complete opposite. I remember when I got my first iPhone back in 2008 running iOS 2 and that same design lasted for 6 years years and I still think it looks fine. iOS 7 on the other hand looks horrible within just a few months of being introduced. Can anyone really imagine staring at this iOS 7 design for 6 years? Yeah right... I predict people will be sick of this flat colourful nonsense within a year. So much for timeless. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

So the WP8 look is not horrible, huh?
 
PatriotInvasion said:
Design is cyclical. The longer people stare at "flat" design, the more and more they'll crave a return of the shadowing, glossy gradients, and overall abundance of fine detail that iOS 1-6 were famous for.
Click to expand...

I suppose that's true. Using it since Beta 1 I have been staring at it for a while now. That's a good point though. The more you look at the either I suppose you get bored. Grass is always greener as they say lol. Personally I think it's on the right track (though I have some issues with it currently) and can't wait to see how companies evolve it. I just wonder what the happy medium is and how it can be worked out. Flat and minimal but also detailed. Will be fun to watch whatever trends come up.
 
snowcrash said:
Do you think this move to flatter design (when it comes to technology not to design in general) has the staying power or is it just a fad/phase. I like the idea of a mature OS, minimal design but is this the right direction to take and are they doing it correctly? (Or is anyone for that matter).

I have a slight feeling that iOS 7 and 8 (as well as what Windows is doing) may be the only versions like this where as iOS 9+ will be another round of radical changes. I can't see this trend sticking around and having the longevity as other designs.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, iOS's design is just a mess.

Designers are attracted to minimalism because it involves less design; less arbitrary choices and more representing what the thing intrinsically is. For example, iOS's navigation bars used to be blue; why blue? Why not green? Stripping them of their colour and depth effects is supposed to reduce it to its essence - a bar with some controls on it.

iOS is minimalist in some places (lots of empty space, lots of white with one application colour used to highlight controls, chromeless buttons, etc). The thing is, it's still got quite a lot of superfluous fluff - stuff like parallax which is a total gimmick and the antithesis of minimalism. Some level of gimmick might be okay - we don't want it to be boring - but Apple missed that sweet spot by some distance, IMO. The result is that iOS7 just doesn't feel cohesive in the way iOS used to be.

The other biggest problem with the design is typography. Apple really know how important typography is (SJ in particular had a lot of appreciation for it; I hope the surviving Apple execs also do).

So far, 10 people have spoken to me about the update, every one of them mentioned the typography changes, but nobody had a positive word to say about them (even after I'd told them about the accessibility settings).
 
People get bored. Therefore, user-interface design will dramatically change every few years. Someone could literally create the perfect OS design and in a couple years people would want something different. Even if it means a step backwards.
 
fads change and with them iOS will change... they have to give what people think is hip to make the hipster sale...
 
I downloaded iOS 7 yesterday and can't say I hate it but I don't love it either. The improvements in functionality are greatly appreciated but not so much the style. i especially dislike Calendar and Notes. Just paid $5 for Fantastical because I hate the new native calendar app. The new iOS is okay as a change of scenery but I think most of us will look back as style evolves and cringe when we remember iOS 7 with all the white, gray, bright pastels, and narrow fonts. Change for change's sake for the most part. Anyone have a suggestion for a great simple notes app?
 
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