Jony Ive Pushing for 'Flat Design' in iOS 7 Amid Greater Hardware-Software Design Collaboration

[MikhailT]

A simpler, flat design? I can't imagine iOS getting even more simple to use. If anything, I was hoping for more customization. Well, Ive has done good work in the past so maybe this will work out.

Flat design does not mean more simple to use, it just means a different experience based on how to present the data but it does not equal to simpler experience.

Flat?

The faq does that mean?

Less focus on shadows, complex animations and more on simple design that's quick to respond, more textual dense (not always but can be) and so on.

 

[alexander25]

think of flat like what google and microsoft are doing.

exactly.. and it looks modern that way.

i believe they've been working on iOS 7 prior to releasing iOS 6.

i'm ready for a new/refreshed UI.

 

[akuma13]

This is great news. Regardless of how iOS will look in the end, it looks like Ive is gunning for UI overhaul. Looks like the iphone 6 and the accompanying OS will look totally different from what we see today. That's when I'll go back to the iphone.

 

[bushido]

i am afraid to see the announcement ... even simpler?

its time to rethink the whole OS. it was clearly made for a 3.5 inch device 6 (?) years ago and hasnt evolved much ever since. it barely takes advantage of the bigger screens on the iPad and even the iPhone 5 imo yet ive owned both for years so im not rly one to complain oh well one can only dream for some big changes

and please PLEASE get rid of that horrible HORRIBLE music app on the iPad

 

[Frankied22]

The question is will we see any of this new design language in iOS 7 or will it be held off until iOS 8? If iOS 7 comes and it's a meager update like iOS 6 then a lot of people are going to be pretty butthurt.

 

[Oletros]

Will be interesting to see what Ive has done

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Quite frankly, I dont think there's anything wrong with current iOS. It's fast, intuitive an pretty. What is there to improve there?

 

[\-V-/]

I'm definitely looking forward to see what Ive has in store for us. Maybe removing all this extra crap will make iOS 7 run better on older iDevices as well.

Quite frankly, I dont think there's anything wrong with current iOS. It's fast, intuitive an pretty. What is there to improve there?

There's a lot that could be improved with iOS...

 

[Asclepio]

craig federighi the worst thing happened to apple

 

[akuma13]

The question is will we see any of this new design language in iOS 7 or will it be held off until iOS 8? If iOS 7 comes and it's a meager update like iOS 6 then a lot of people are going to be pretty butthurt.

From the article it seems Ive wants to push the new design as soon as possible but that's not very Apple is it? We would most likely see it in iOS 8

 

[tkermit]

It will look like Windows 8.

God, I hope not.

 

[nepalisherpa]

I am actually more excited about iOS 7 than I am about iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 or iPhone Math.

 

[Premium1]

Of course they will be conservative, just like every other release. Will look the same and won't be anything special but they will claim it's so revolutionary

 

[talmy]

I went from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

I almost fell from my chair when I opened Contacts. Please fix it for 10.8.4!

It's a good thing you skipped Lion. Mountain Lion is a fix for the disaster that was Lion's Address Book, although, yes, Snow Leopard was best of the three.

 

[SteveJobs2.0]

Yes yes yes yes yes. My body is ready!

Get ready! Here comes the Ivy sausage!

 

[MikhailT]

The question is will we see any of this new design language in iOS 7 or will it be held off until iOS 8? If iOS 7 comes and it's a meager update like iOS 6 then a lot of people are going to be pretty butthurt.

You will see it spread over several OS versions, Apple rarely does a complete overhaul in a single version, it takes several iterations to get what they want.

 

[bozzykid]

Adding flat icons and removing skeuomorphism from the apps isn't really going to fix any of the issues with iOS. I certainly hope they are looking to innovate more than updating icons in iOS 7.

 

[myrtlebee]

Not sure how I feel about this, but I trust Sir Ive. His first task should be to whip up a new Facetime icon. It looks so out of place with its background texture and frame compared to the other stock icons.

 

[apolloa]

Hmmmm a flat design with conservative changes? Not entirely sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[ikramerica]

Really? For one thing, the Settings layout is a mess to use.

I would like the option to create an "app" for subfunction of settings. Why must I go deep into settings to change brightness (auto brightness is crap). Why must I go deep into settings to toggle LTE? Sure, not everyone wants icons to do this, but for those who do, why can't we make a shortcut "app" if we need it? On Windows or OSX you can use keys to adjust brightness and have toolbar level items to adjust other things, but on iOS, you can't. Bleh.

As iOS has gained functionality, it's become less user friendly and cumbersome to use in changing environments.

 

[SgtPepper12]

I'm expecting a lot.

 

[Dwalls90]

I also interpret flat as in moving away from skeuomorphisms. Ive seems to be simple and clean, where as skeuomorphisms are overly detailed and trying to be something they aren't

 

[masterhiggins]

Simpler design? What the heck is simpler than ios 6? Pretty soon there's just going to be one big button with an apple on it.

 

[testcard]

Guys, calm down. "Flat" simple means removing all the Vista-ish glares and effects, that look dated anyway.

Themes. Flat, or curves, or glows or...

 

[borisiii]

It's already happening – the latest update to the podcasts app removes the weird skeuomorphic tape player effect.