More Details on Jony Ive's Flat iOS 7 Design: Heavier on Black and White

[jrswizzle]

You missed my point, Apple are now caving in and adding features that they never thought were needed. Google were never that ignorant. Trust me features like being able to select default apps is important to alot of people. Its one of the main reasons i jumped ship, Me and all of my mates were iPhone users when the iP4 was released. Yesterday the last of us switched to an Android phone, he got the Samsung S4 and he cant believe he waited so long. Slowly but surely Apple are losing their customer base due to the lack of software features.

Ehh, losing and gaining. Happens all the time.

They keep selling more and more iPhones each year, so I'm not sure how they are "slowly losing their customer base".

I would say you and your mates would've been better off with an Android in the first place if that's what's important to you (setting default apps). A huge majority of consumers couldn't give two shakes of a lamb's tail......

And I don't follow how Google implementing pretty substantial features after Apple is better than Apple implementing pretty superficial features like panorama wallpapers.....neither have been naive. Each has a different focus....certain features get to each platform later than the other because of said focus.

There's nothing wrong with it......I like both platforms and use both on a daily basis. It isn't an apples to apples comparison. There are pros and cons to each - things I like and dislike about each.....that all spawns from each company having a different philosophy with their OS.

 

[Yvan256]

I'm pretty sure the iPhone 3GS won't be able to run iOS7.

 

[GoCubsGo]

This won't go over well.

Sounds like Apple is following in the footsteps of the Microsoft Office 2013 designers.

Panorama swiping home screen wallpapers?! OMG! Why don't we just call this the new MS-Droid phone. If this stuff is true, Apple is going to get soooo ripped to shreds for just copying the competition.

I'll write it again (as i did when this article was linked in a thread that preceded this "news"), panoramic wallpapers ... meh. The rest, I want. I want to see the flat design and I want toggle buttons.

You were all complaining about skeuomorphism now shut up. this will be as flat as it is possible to be

The very same people loved the design for many years.

 

[gadget123]

People wanting change clearly can't be happy with there current IOS device anyway.

 

[smoledman]

Image​

• Flat: Check
• Black and White: Check
• No texture: Check

It's WP .. err .. I mean iOS 7 indeed ​

3% market share - Check.

 

[rmwebs]

So like Google and Microsofts flat ui...but more bland...?

Don't screw this up Jony, I really don't want to stare at an iPhone keyboard that has no definition between keys.

 

[johngordon]

I think the problem with flat design is that its quite difficult to come up with a design that looks good.

But it is possible to have good looking flat (ish) designs. The recent Yahoo weather app is a good example.

 

[3282868]

So something like this with flatter toolbars?

Funny, I always use the black nav and Safari Winterboard tweaks on my iPhone's. I also use the Safari unibar feature, which I hope iOS 7 incorporates. Would make sense as it's in OS X Safari.

I hope this means less skeuomorphism in OS X. Thankfully "Mountain Lion Tweaks" (free app) removes it in Calendar and Contacts. Don't get me started on "Game Center". With Forestall gone, I hope Ive has more influence over Craig Federighi, who mauled 10.7/8 after Bertrand Serlet's departure. Make the OS stable, I don't need social networking bloat as engineering focus when OpenGL Core support is well behind, HFS/Finder needs an overhaul, network protocols and wireless have been as stable as Lindsay Lohan on a bender, and bring back full support for multiple display's (not everyone is using a MacBook).

 

[chrisrosemusic1]

I'm pretty sure the iPhone 3GS won't be able to run iOS7.

Guarantee it won't.

 

[ghostface147]

That's fine and all, but how about putting something on the menu bar showing that you have notifications. I know several people who don't even know the notification center exists because they have no if knowing if there is anything is there, like a new email.

 

[unplugme71]

I see exactly where this is going. Make the OS and iOS black and white.

Then when they release Mac OS XI and iOS XI they'll make the gui color and say "We colorutionized the way our eyes capture color!".

 

[Mac21ND]

What's black, white, and read all over???

 

[itguy06]

1. All flat design is not the same. Metro UI is flat, but flat is not Metro UI. They are separate. Comparing the two is literally almost exactly like someone claiming a Honda Civic is the same as a Ford F150 simply because they're both black and have black leather interiors. Sure they're both vehicles, but they're still completely different.

Yes, but I've never seen a flat design that looks better than a non flat design. Gmail - nope, iTunes - not really. Flat deisgn screams "We don't care so we whipped this up!". It's not cool, trendy, or modern. Good design needs no constant refreshing. Look at companies that have been around for a long time. Their logos have not changed much in that time periofd. 3 that come to mind:

GM: Still an underlined GM
Ford: Still a scripted Blue Oval
Coca-Cola: Still a red background with a scripted Coca-Cola

There are numerous examples of design Failure:
Gap - tried to redesign their logo and so much backlash they went back
Tropicana - same deal

Even Pepsi's "new" logo looks like ****.

2. I agree with you. I don't really care too much for panoramic wallpapers. But you know what's great about them? You'll be able to turn them off. There is absolutely no way apple would FORCE you to use them. Don't prefer panoramic wallpapers? Cool. Turn them off.

On my Droid X there was no way to turn it off.

 

[apollo1444]

only a moron would think Ive will fail.

 

[TMar]

All you people bashing it before you've seen it are pretty sad. Just by that description I can tell it's going to be amazing. It'll likely set the standard for mobile OSes just like the original iOS did. If you guys would actually use it before rushing to form an opinion then maybe you'd see that.

Bashing it before you see it is a no-no but praising it before you see it is fine? You didn't rush to the opinion of "amazing" and "set the standard". Your fanboyism is hanging out, please put it away.

 

[subsonix]

I think the problem with flat design is that its quite difficult to come up with a design that looks good.

But it is possible to have good looking flat (ish) designs. The recent Yahoo weather app is a good example.

Agreed, and even if you can make a strong argument, why for example a shadow could help in a specific case, you are not allowed.

 

[guzhogi]

I can understand wanting to simplify things, but not simple ≠ flat and black & white. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can see things called colors. Very interesting. Colors can tell me different things like what state a certain thing is in. Wow, what a crazy, strange new idea!

 

[Pilgrim1099]

It may be a big change looks wise, and that could be a good thing. Why not stay open minded until you can actually see it hands on?

Exactly. It's WHAT Ive's trying to do here. I think they're going 'old school' in some aspect while retaining the iOS features but changing up the way it's being interacted, making improvements on functionality.

Just like Daft Punk used to say in their recent interview on Rolling Stone magazine that the electronic music scene was getting stale, so they, as artists, had to change the tone and direction of things, henceforth their new album. I can see why they did what they had to do because they grew up in a certain era of music to re-invent things.

The same can be said for such staleness in an OS environment. iOS is very 'static' and leaves a LOT of negative space around the icons in a grid format. The icons should be enlarged a bit and dynamic in some way, especially on the iPad.

So, in that sense when you think of the iPhone's metallic hardware design, the OS should relate to the hardware in terms of color schematic. It makes sense that Apple needs to get past the "toy" phase and get down to business. Making the iOS environment with fewer colors makes it look more focused and professional looking, and I'm quite sure they'll have some custom features for users to add or label in colors for their own.

Not everything has to be about purty looks and rounded corners. People need to open their eyes and see what's going on here. X-Box One has angled corners. So does Blackberry 10. That's the trend now. Even the HTC One. When you go for angular design, it makes it look 'lean and mean' in a futuristic manner.

And I say it's about damned time Apple is remaking iOS's look and design.

 

[The Phazer]

Generally sounds quite good, though removing Facetime from the phone app feels very odd. iMessage needs pulling out of the SMS app, not FT out of the phone app.

Still, the new design really doesn't mean much unless it fixes iOS's usability and functionality clangers at this point.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

LOL, I see a lot of people getting mad based on a rumor. We may not know exactly how it's going to look until launch day or GM leak, so why not just be happy that something new is coming, and if we don't like it, then complain about it?

 

[bdkennedy1]

This should actually make the OS faster since the processor doesn't have to do extra work to display all of those bitmapped textures.

 

[3282868]

Somewhat OT question:

If an iOS user switches to another phone platform, how does it sync with OS X? I'm certain iTunes can't be used as the main conduit. My music is DRM free, of course my apps would be useless, I assume Google could handle contacts, calendar and mail. Just curious for those who have switched.

 

[MJD Dawg]

Ive got a good feeling about this.

LOL! Thanks for making me spit up my drink.

 

[peejack]

sounds terrible

Yeh because Apple are terrible at designing.

 

[Rogifan]

Reading 9to5Mac's report gives the impression to me thwt Ive has wanted to get his hands on iOS design for quite some time. I do like hearing that the design language will be consistent across the apps (hated it when status bars were different colors). And also like hearing that some quick toggles might be coming to the notification center. Hope that turns out to be true.