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Jony Ive Put Apple's Marketing Team in Charge of iOS 7 Icon Design
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Well I look at it like this, we never saw iOS1 beta, I think i read that they worked on it for a few years before the iPhone came out. How long have they been working on iOS7? has it been what 8 months since they ousted Foristall? so we are all comparing an 8month old first beta with a 6-8 year old refined product....
Just some perspective for anyone jumping to bash it right now, I'm reserving my judgement until the shipped version.
Just some perspective for anyone jumping to bash it right now, I'm reserving my judgement until the shipped version.
I think that most of the new UI is gorgeous, except several of the icons:
game-center icon is confusing, i my opinion icons should convey instantly what the function of the app is.
why not have a simple screening process, let workers see the app icons without names and guess what they are. IF most cant guess what they are , its bad design.
When I first saw the new control-center i was put off, instantly thinking, that is ugly. having viewed it in HD, its not as bad... still i would like it to have a more solid color. like the new pop-up menus, they being a shade of white,"solid".
It is still in BETA and it is understandable that not everything will be a HOME RUN instantly, with them changing the entire UI from ground up in one release we cant expect perfection day one.
people should compare iOS 6 and iOS 7 on a deeper level, compare the menus, the popup menus etc. there is a huge change and for the better. iOS 6 menus look ugly in comparison.
I expect some changes to icon design and the look and feel, still 2 months or so to go.
iOS7 is a dose of fresh air
game-center icon is confusing, i my opinion icons should convey instantly what the function of the app is.
why not have a simple screening process, let workers see the app icons without names and guess what they are. IF most cant guess what they are , its bad design.
When I first saw the new control-center i was put off, instantly thinking, that is ugly. having viewed it in HD, its not as bad... still i would like it to have a more solid color. like the new pop-up menus, they being a shade of white,"solid".
It is still in BETA and it is understandable that not everything will be a HOME RUN instantly, with them changing the entire UI from ground up in one release we cant expect perfection day one.
people should compare iOS 6 and iOS 7 on a deeper level, compare the menus, the popup menus etc. there is a huge change and for the better. iOS 6 menus look ugly in comparison.
I expect some changes to icon design and the look and feel, still 2 months or so to go.
iOS7 is a dose of fresh air
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I like all the improvements but for those who have been using android 4.2 most of the features esp the notification and quick settings have been copied or borrowed from android whichever way you see it. Its not bad in itself to copy the good stuff from other operating systems as I remember chrome at one stage did copy from firefox browser, but to denounce the very system you copy from is not right. Why is ive speaking so slowly? You just want to pull the words out of his mouth. Was he asked to speak slowly so US viewers could understand his "English accent"?
How do we know this isn't a leak from the Human Interface team to make Ive look bad and say 'these icons didnt come from us'?
This doesn't really make Ive look good on the face of it since he's the one who decided to involve marketing. If anything this could be someone from the software design team throwing Ive and marketing under the bus.
I think what this shows is they tried to do too much in a short amount of time. They basically tried to redesign the entire UI in 6 months. And those earlier rumors that they were behind schedule and had to pull from the OSX team make sense now. The sense I get from many people who are actually testing iOS 7 is they like it but its not quite ready for prime time yet. So that begs the question, did Ive (and Federighi) bite off more than they could chew or were they being pressured by Cook or others to deliver something radical in time for WWDC?
I actually really love the new icon set. Much better.
But, having worked in book, magazine and web design over the years I've always noticed that what 'design elites' think is perfect doesn't always go down well with the public, who often like a more human, folksy, dare I say 'skeuomorphic' feel.
But, having worked in book, magazine and web design over the years I've always noticed that what 'design elites' think is perfect doesn't always go down well with the public, who often like a more human, folksy, dare I say 'skeuomorphic' feel.
Ok, who ever said that Jony Ive is a good designer? Good designer would never approve a positioning of iPhone 5 camera, when center of the camera is not placed in the center of the circle used to make round corner of the phone case, and spaces between top and bottom edges of the camera and edges of the glass bar is not equal. So, bad design not started with iOS7, it been there forever, but now it moved to another level.
Oh, so he did this before? What was the other team he threw under the bus?
Well you need something instantly associated with games, universally recognised around the world and that would work in a small, rounded square icon... I just knocked something up in 5 mins -
Ok, it's not great but just an example of something that seems like an easy, obvious improvement to a bunch of bubbles.
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The camera position was fine with the iPhone 4, which was probably the peak of iPhone design, the 5 did get sloppy in a few areas like that. It also looks like it was designed around the thinner Izgo screen that didn't materialize in time because when viewed from the side the screen sits about 0.5mm proud and doesn't look like it should when following the bevelled edge.
Only talking about the icons now.
GOOD:
Passbook
STILL OK-ISH:
Videos
Maps
Messages
Weather
Calendar
Game Centre (kinda like it, although there's a lot of white in it)
Phone
Music
BAD:
Notes
Photos
Clock (why not the iPad clock? They payed a lot for the rights on the SBB design...)
Reminders
Stocks
Settings
Compass
iTunes
App Store
REALLY BAD BOLLOCKS:
Camera
Newsstand (not that I use it, but WTF is that??)
Safari (someone needs to be hung for that)
I seriously don't get all the complaints. Ive pushes iOS forward from what was dated and increasingly ugly software to something modern and vibrant. It looks a little weird now, but just like all change, if given a chance you might actually warm up to it.
I fully trust Ive to know what he's doing, of all people at Apple he seems to be one of the sharpest.
I fully trust Ive to know what he's doing, of all people at Apple he seems to be one of the sharpest.
The icons aren't the only problem. Just look at the side-by-side images on Apple.com - there is almost no consistency between any view!
From my experience within global companies i would consider the latter as pretty much given - though the former might have added to the situation.
As long as there is some Dieter Rams archetype design that can be used probably noone would call an Ive design really bad. Mmmh - Dieter Rams never did Software...
A good designer recognizes the multitude of limitations (e.g. cost, technical, design) imposed upon him. Sometimes you need to make smaller compromises for lesser parts to support the device as a whole.
iOS 7 really looks like Yahoo's new Yahoo Weather app
Apple did copy and paste
Data comes from Yahoo. Probably a collaboration or at least yahoo knowing what they were doing. Also its possible Yahoo was given a sneak peak at what iOS 7 would look like when they were creating their app. Apparently Marissa Meyer was in the audience at the keynote so I'm thinking we'll get more Yahoo/Apple collaboration in the future.
desire to change trumps continuity
If it isn't broke, don't fix it. But I guess Apple's demographic is changing, those new iOS7 icons will mostly appeal to all the kiddies. Gone is the sophistication that distinguished Apple from Microsoft & Google. Change for change's sake isn't = Modern look. In a year or two most will grow tired of the flat 8-bit colours that is Windows 8 / Phone and go back to a more refined 3D look.
Real world objects are NOT flat and over-saturated in colour. That was Steve's whole philosophy on graphic design. Richness, mimicking real-world easy-to-understand objects.
Sure, a redesign was needed to keep it fresh and I do like the new functionalities and transparency look, but the Icons and their colour palette is horrible. Unless things change between now and the public release in the fall, I will not upgrade, I'm happy with 6.1.3 right now and I don't feel compelled to always upgrade to the latest and "greatest".
If it isn't broke, don't fix it. But I guess Apple's demographic is changing, those new iOS7 icons will mostly appeal to all the kiddies. Gone is the sophistication that distinguished Apple from Microsoft & Google. Change for change's sake isn't = Modern look. In a year or two most will grow tired of the flat 8-bit colours that is Windows 8 / Phone and go back to a more refined 3D look.
Real world objects are NOT flat and over-saturated in colour. That was Steve's whole philosophy on graphic design. Richness, mimicking real-world easy-to-understand objects.
Sure, a redesign was needed to keep it fresh and I do like the new functionalities and transparency look, but the Icons and their colour palette is horrible. Unless things change between now and the public release in the fall, I will not upgrade, I'm happy with 6.1.3 right now and I don't feel compelled to always upgrade to the latest and "greatest".
I have to keep reminding myself that the UI was completely redone in a matter of 6 months. That's crazy when you really think about it. Will be interesting to see how it evolves over the next 3-4 months.
The thing is, change only happened because everyone screamed about how state iOS was - these boards for nearly two years now have been constantly moaning about how it needed a radical new design because its been the same since 2007. Thats why it happened.
I doubt these forums are the reason it was redesigned. It was redesigned because it was effectively 2007 software with features tacked on in awkward ways. It was being left behind (in terms of functionality and general usefulness) and was becoming an abomination of design.