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Third-Party Mac Icons Reimagined in OS X Yosemite Style
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Afraid I tend to agree....
I'm fine with doing visual overhauls of a new OS version, simply because I think the public expects a new look to go with a new OS upgrade. (From the day we first moved from character based operating system to GUIs, that's been one of the side effects.)
But attempts to put large amounts of effort into re-thinking icons? Waste of time and effort, especially when you're paying big $'s to Apple developers to do this stuff.
The whole thing about icons getting divided up into 3 shapes for business apps, consumer focused apps or system utilities, for example? Not worth the hassle because #1, I guarantee a number of older programs won't conform and won't always get upgraded to a version with a conforming icon. And #2, trying to place everything into a category is bound to leave "straggler" programs out which don't neatly fit a particular label.
In the pre OS X days, Apple was pretty good about imposing a whole book full of guidelines like that, for where everything on menus went and how things should look. But in more modern times, they haven't even been able to stick with their own guidelines on in-house applications, and it often feels like certain apps in OS X are just experimenting with new design ideas that don't conform at ALL with the rest of the UI.
By the time any design theme or concept gets applied 100% consistently across the whole OS, someone's bored with it and wants a revamp or major change anyway.
I'm fine with doing visual overhauls of a new OS version, simply because I think the public expects a new look to go with a new OS upgrade. (From the day we first moved from character based operating system to GUIs, that's been one of the side effects.)
But attempts to put large amounts of effort into re-thinking icons? Waste of time and effort, especially when you're paying big $'s to Apple developers to do this stuff.
The whole thing about icons getting divided up into 3 shapes for business apps, consumer focused apps or system utilities, for example? Not worth the hassle because #1, I guarantee a number of older programs won't conform and won't always get upgraded to a version with a conforming icon. And #2, trying to place everything into a category is bound to leave "straggler" programs out which don't neatly fit a particular label.
In the pre OS X days, Apple was pretty good about imposing a whole book full of guidelines like that, for where everything on menus went and how things should look. But in more modern times, they haven't even been able to stick with their own guidelines on in-house applications, and it often feels like certain apps in OS X are just experimenting with new design ideas that don't conform at ALL with the rest of the UI.
By the time any design theme or concept gets applied 100% consistently across the whole OS, someone's bored with it and wants a revamp or major change anyway.
All icons should not be round!
I can suggest everyone (especially if you design icons) to read this great article on the new icon design language. It goes in depth with the new Yosemite icons and how you should design your own to match the design language: http://martiancraft.com/blog/2014/07/inspecting-yosemite-icons/
I can suggest everyone (especially if you design icons) to read this great article on the new icon design language. It goes in depth with the new Yosemite icons and how you should design your own to match the design language: http://martiancraft.com/blog/2014/07/inspecting-yosemite-icons/
It's the OSX equivalent of Windows 8.
On top of that it wouldn't fit the current Mac aesthetics:
On top of that it wouldn't fit the current Mac aesthetics:
No its ugly in its own right.
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At least with those images, there's depth and quality to the images. Not so to what we see in the OP.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
This is a parody, right? They're making fun of Apple for making things flat and unrealistic. Between the background and the icons, this looks like Tiny Tower. Is that what we have to look forward to?
It's 2014. We have retina displays. Why is Apple making everything flatter? And why would anyone actually want to emulate or encourage this?
I'd prefer all rounded squares like iOS or all titled icons instead of all rounded circles. I like the dock to look like it's flourishing. Rounded icons look like they are floating in space and should be rolling around. I thought the iTunes icon would grow on me, but I still think it looks awkward in my dock. I still also accidentally either click on the App Store or Vice Versa because they look so similar.
If Apple incorporated touch into the Mac lineup and the OS, I think all circles would make more sense. Even then I think I would prefer the iOS icons' aesthetics.
If Apple incorporated touch into the Mac lineup and the OS, I think all circles would make more sense. Even then I think I would prefer the iOS icons' aesthetics.
Exactly. In fact, not counting Safari, which is the image of a compass, the only round icons are the ones that represent Apple's online digital stores and media libraries, which is also why iCloud Photos is round.
Also, notice in this image, that Apple decided to group all those rounded icons together to emphasize those aforementioned app's similarities:
Yes, there is logic behind the madness.
Launchpad is round. Time Machine is round. Dashboard is round. Apple Configurator is round. AirPort Utility is round. QuickTime is pretty much round. OS X installers are also round, with an arrow on top.
You're right. I just woke up, so I was half asleep posting this
But other than Quicktime, which is not a perfect circle and does not have a white border around it, I completely forgot about the the other apps you mentioned, which do conform to the same rounded, white border design. I'm not sure how to explain that.
I dunno I think they look sorta neat. The 1password doesn't work for me, but the Microsoft ones look ok but I do agree the Skype one looks best and it is probably due to the lack of blackborder the others have. I probably won't change everything just for the hell of it and i do have yosemite installed right now, so i just want the apps on the menubar to look good with my dark theme.
I'm feeling the same way. It looks flat in more than just design. It's just not good. At least the new Android has some layers like iOS 8 and for all the crap I give Windows 8, the backbone is still a similar look to Windows 7.
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Oh god that looks even worse.
You're right. I just woke up, so I was half asleep posting this
But other than Quicktime, which is not a perfect circle and does not have a white border around it, I completely forgot about the the other apps you mentioned, which do conform to the same rounded, white border design. I'm not sure how to explain that.
The round icons frustrate me because they seem lazy. The icon for something like iCal or Keynote seems much more thought out and clever than a book slapped on an orange circle. And the book looks identical to another icon, the bookmarks icon. Worse though is if you get too many round icons, they all start to look the same...and I like the visual cue of different shapes.
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I hate 'em, I hate 'em, I hate 'em!
Took 20+ years to get some nice 3D effects in OSs and Apps; Took only one year to take it all out. I guess that they simply ran out of ideas esthetically-wise
Yup, don't know what's going on with Apple, OS X UI is pretty perfect as it is now.
My eyes aren't the best and I prefer the way it is than the flat iOS 7 and Yosemity OS's.
Cause you can only post so much stuff about Apple 6 screens. Plus, Apple hasn't had anything exciting in two years. What else are you going to post? The site is pretty much a bore.