Jony Ive Put Apple's Marketing Team in Charge of iOS 7 Icon Design

[jamesnajera]

The weather is there. I'm glad there is more scrolling because there is now more to see.

I do not have the weather, maybe I need to change a setting? Do you know how to get the weather to show? I am on a iPhone 5.

I doubt the camera icon is going anymore. It's the epitome of Braun design. I bet the icon will be used in more places. The phone dialer also screams Braun.

Missed my point with the camera icon, or maybe I misunderstand. I am just saying the camera icon on the lock screen is not the same as the camera icon for the Camera app. Consistency.

Keep it scrolling? For what? There are classic dots to denote "more pages" just like previous versions of iOS.

Misunderstood me. I am saying maybe the use the folder animation from folders in iOS 6 with the classic dots and page scrolling (left/right) from iOS 7, so that folders aren't limited with the amount of apps that can go in them.

 

[ijohn.8.80]

Wrong. Ugly is ugly.

Except when it's UGLY...

 

[SamIchi]

I'm all for an interface redesign and if the whole apple fandom world is now dead set against anything skeuomorphic then so be it, but please give us a little bit of texture. All of the plain white screens are actually devoid of any design sensibility. The flat icons are a step backwards and a trend of the moment at best (Windows 8). It's odd though that while video game and movie graphics continue to push for greater and greater depth and realism, iOS is abandoning all of that and moving towards flat cutouts and design desolation. Why does a person even need a retina display to look at a solid white interface and flat icons?

Last line is so true. I can enjoy this interface with a palm pilot. Super displays deserve better. Beautiful images and metaphors that make the interface more intuitive not less.

The retina display plays the part of continuing aesthetic consistency with the translucent layers. With a lesser display, it would be less pronounced and hierarchy would be confused with simple background graphics. The use of translucency, that is highlighted throughout the video will be better understood when you actually get a hold of the iPhone or iPad. It's like explaining 3D movies to someone who's never seen one, or even a 3D Image with those glasses. You can try to explain it in words, or show them a video, but actually being in the experience is totally different.

The flat icons alone don't do much, but as a whole with the use or layer transparency, the UI has a very coherent feel to it. I'm not a fan of certain colors, but I'm sure refinements will be done, and remember this is the first overhaul of iOS, ever. Things will change, Apple will refine, design isn't a one step process.

And to all those saying they are copying Android or MS or Yahoo. These are all aesthetic trends that have been in web design way before it hit any mobile OS.

 

[alansky]

Designed for 13-year-old girls

Whoever designed the iOS 7 icons, they were obviously designed to appeal to 13-year-old girls. The fonts are also terrible—almost impossible to read, especially on that ridiculous light blue background. What was Apple thinking???!!!

 

[Lukemifflin]

Leave it to the marketing team of yet another major company to screw up the design of an amazing product.

 

[BJMRamage]

that's good to hear

after seeing the droves of designers creating their own version of the app icons, i've really liked what they are doing.

consistency would be good with the icons.

 

[jimbobb24]

The retina display plays the part of continuing aesthetic consistency with the translucent layers. With a lesser display, it would be less pronounced and hierarchy would be confused with simple background graphics. The use of translucency, that is highlighted throughout the video will be better understood when you actually get a hold of the iPhone or iPad. It's like explaining 3D movies to someone who's never seen one, or even a 3D Image with those glasses. You can try to explain it in words, or show them a video, but actually being in the experience is totally different.

The flat icons alone don't do much, but as a whole with the use or layer transparency, the UI has a very coherent feel to it. I'm not a fan of certain colors, but I'm sure refinements will be done, and remember this is the first overhaul of iOS, ever. Things will change, Apple will refine, design isn't a one step process.

And to all those saying they are copying Android or MS or Yahoo. These are all aesthetic trends that have been in web design way before it hit any mobile OS.

I hope you are right. The one thing I could not get an answer to among all the clamoring about apple copying was whether or not any phone already has the parralax design. I think that may turn out to be a genius move.

 

[haruhiko]

What Apple's marketing team does most: let Jony Ive speak in a totally white background.

I think we've got much better than that already. /s



I wish that Jony's team will really tweak the design of the icons before release...

iOS 7 is really great besides the icons...

 

[maxosx]

Time to get the barbie out.

No kidding. Apple needs to strike a balance between the pastel shades and flowery looking icons, shifting the entire "look" towards a more gender neutral appearance. That in and of itself will be a huge improvement.

 

[jimbobb24]

Hold on, you complain about form over function and then suggest that some sort of file system is needed?

The function I want: I install a game. I play game. I uninstall to make room for new game. Later I want to go back to game but will have to start over because removing a game deletes all save data. Yeah - I want iOS to have a solution to a problem solved in the 1960s. My Mac, PC, and PS3 all let me install and uninstall without deleting my saves. This is still broken on iOS.

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New question - will your screen always blaring white increase power consumption? Probably dumb question.

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I must say that I really like this look. Been waiting to try iOS out and now that it's similar to Android and Windows phone I can finally do it!

Yeah. Finally all the phones have converged and are perfect market substitutes.

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Hmm... Or... Maybe Apple just leaked this to justify why the app icons look the way they do, and to have a good excuse why they'll change them upon the official release, even though, this is how they intended to have them look all along. At first they were designed with a grid system and were well thought out, and after all of the uproar over the look of them, "oh, we just gave that job to marketing". Just saying.

Image

Question for design people. Is sticking to a specific design palette and having icons all matching up to some grid system some kind of best practices? I fail to see how that is useful but I am not in design and might have atrocious taste.

 

[alephnull12]

Not too bad (and not too different).

I'm not a big fan of the huge fonts for such a small screen, but elderly people might prefer it.

Still haven't had a glimpse of some of the apps (notepad, contacts, calendar). Hopefully, they haven't changed those too much.

Compass icon and game center icon seem unobvious. Would recommend something based on this for game center instead:

http://www.victorystore.com/signs/property_management/images/slow_children_at_play_sign.jpg

Photos icon should be something based on a picture frame. Can't tell what it does as it is.

"Apps near me" sound pretty gimmicky. Not sure this is useful enough to add as a feature. I think it's likely to be one of those things that hardly anyone uses, and a year or two from now once the marketing gimmicky aspect of it is no longer, serves little other than to clutter up the user experience.

Does Federighi know how to oversee the building of a new API when the time comes? Forstall did a mighty good job of it the first time around, made the right choice to go with the right architecture as well.

 

[WilliamLondon]

This refresh of iOS will not live or die because a few loud and obnoxious people with nothing better to do than constantly criticise the world of tech on an obscure blog in the 1st world decided a public beta staged demonstration wasn't to their (personal and not universal) liking, especially when so many of them can only point to "ugly icons" and the rest have no idea what marketing does in an organisation.

Whoever designed the iOS 7 icons, they were obviously designed to appeal to 13-year-old girls.

Good to know someone on here knows so well what 13 year old girls think and want. Or perhaps we all see the world as we want it to be?
_____________________

Saying "wrong" or "no" constantly or always being negative doesn't make someone authoritative or unique or right, it only makes that person the contradiction of other people's creativity and originality.

 

[Apex2206]

Some basic design features are missing in the new IOS,
like text formating for one,
some things are almost ilegible,
because of lack of importance to
''TItles, Subtitle and c h a r a c t e r s p a c i n g '' i.e.: Inbox.

<And too many things look like there just floating in Limbo!

With no real defined space as where they should be.

Really hope they fix this.

 

[doug in albq]

ATTENTION: THE MARKETING TEAM HAS A SLEW OF SEASONED GRAPHIC/VISUAL DESIGNERS.

Marketing department is not just people with marketing degrees.

 

[jimbobb24]

I think ios 7 has much bigger visual flaws than the icons. When mixed with your personal icons, the icon set looks great (except for Safari...good golly miss Molly &#55357;&#56489

- not enough contrast
- no buttons
- dark live wallpapers are needed
- no drop shadows
- orb signal bar (really?)

Signal bar is really weird right. If its not broke....

I was thinking though if buttons are so bad Ive had to get rid of them - aren't icons just like skeumorphic buttons. I say instead of little picture buttons he should have just replaced them with clean rendered text. Just the word notes, safari. Lets go buttonless if buttons are so bad and intrusive.

 

[StyxMaker]

People get strokes from such colours.

The colors look fine to me, but I'm severely red/green color blind.

 

[iMacFarlane]

In my short experience with iOS 7 it seems that the more "experienced" iOS user finds the new look rather... too colourful... but, the younger teenager seems to find the new look super cool.

Well, I'm 45, been an iOS user since 2008 (1st gen iPod Touch), and I think iOS7 is gorgeous as presented on Monday. For the first time in a long while, I thought Apple was firing on all cylinders throughout the entire Keynote.

 

[Deuce2]

Hmm... Or... Maybe Apple just leaked this to justify why the app icons look the way they do, and to have a good excuse why they'll change them upon the official release, even though, this is how they intended to have them look all along. At first they were designed with a grid system and were well thought out, and after all of the uproar over the look of them, "oh, we just gave that job to marketing". Just saying.

Image

Exactly! Some serious CYA going on here. Jonny Ive himself made a video detailing the new and simpler form factor, and waxed philosophical about the profundity of simplicity. If those icons and other design elements are any example, he doesn't have a clue about good graphic design. His reputation as a design master has definitely taken a hit and he needs to come up with a showstopping redesign to reclaim his former status.

 

[iMacFarlane]

No kidding. Apple needs to strike a balance between the pastel shades and flowery looking icons, shifting the entire "look" towards a more gender neutral appearance. That in and of itself will be a huge improvement.

Not sure if sarcasm or irony, but I'm pretty sure the poster you're replying to (said, "time to get the barbie out") was referring to the wait.
The barbie is a barbecue. Gonna get comfy and relax in the back yard while waiting for this eagerly anticipated improvement to the already awesome iPhone.
Don't think they were talking about the famous and sometimes laughably controversial doll.

 

[doug in albq]

[/url] Vintage Barbie Doll Western Fun Barbecue Playset Box by jadedoz, on Flickr[/IMG]



Get the Barbie out! That is funny.

Now its barbie or Barbie.

Notice this is a vintage barbie set, from the looks, I would say the 1980's. Note the colors.

However, the 1980's are back in style, I am aware of this.

 

[Frobozz]

Well, that sure didn't work out.

Clearly the weakest point of the entire thing are the icons. The interaction design is pretty good. Fonts- good. Some usabilitiy issues with vague icons, but we will get used to some of them. Others are just wonky icons. Transparency issues can result in readability problems. But all of this is very fixable. Overall, I'm super psyched about this release.

 

[jimbobb24]

Jim Lynch thinks it is a metrosexual estrogen-fuelled design...

http://jimlynch.com/mobile/ios-7-a-mobile-os-for-13-year-old-girls/

That was hilarious.

He is right on with Game Center. More proof that not a single person at Apple has played a game. They should hire someone from a game company to help them along. Playing games is one of the most popular things people do on iOS and they offer this crap. The icon and the app look horrible and covey no information.

 

[Frobozz]

ATTENTION: THE MARKETING TEAM HAS A SLEW OF SEASONED GRAPHIC/VISUAL DESIGNERS.

Marketing department is not just people with marketing degrees.

Yeah, but the problem is that interaction design is not the same as visual design. Everyone has a balance but there are plenty of people who are trained or hone the skills specifically related to interface usability, iconography, and interaction models. It is all but self evident that the icons are completely screwed up. Readability issues at times. Again, overall it's a great design– but they need some specialists to take the reigns now.

 

[Fruit Cake]

Ok so marketing team designs a logo, good to know!

 

[Deuce2]

Sorry image didnt work first time in last post. Here it is again, so people can put the old and new into perspective.

Image

The only one I'd say is significantly improved is the compass icon. All the others are step backward in my designer opinion.