Why did Apple remove design from iOS 7?

[Night Spring]

Ya we can agree to disagree. Hard to find is a bit overboard though.

Ok, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but I mean the lines are so thin they feel like they are about to disappear.

Anyway, the bolder system font in beta 3 is making me feel like maybe I can live with iOS 7. We'll see!

 

[teknikal90]

I'm sure you can see the difference between "flatter" and "flat".

I dont want to get in a bun fight with you about grammar.. But I personally think it makes sense that people are calling iOS 7 flat seeing as it is a lot flatter than iOS 6. I don't see anything wrong with that but YMMV.........

 

[BaldiMac]

But I personally think it makes sense that people are calling iOS 7 flat seeing as it is a lot flatter than iOS 6.

Sure, but that ignores your point that Apple is simply joining a flat design fad. They aren't. They are doing the same thing they usually do... continue to iterate towards a more minimalist design. They do it with both hardware and software.

 

[gingerbloke]

Personally, I think the new iOS 7 look is very flattering to the hardware

 

[teknikal90]

Sure, but that ignores your point that Apple is simply joining a flat design fad. They aren't. They are doing the same thing they usually do... continue to iterate towards a more minimalist design. They do it with both hardware and software.

to each their own i guess. I still believe that the jump from iOS 6 to iOS 7 could have been done whilst preserving the character and the quirky recognizable and functional elements that made iOS what it is today.
Perhaps you're right in the same way that they ditched the iconic click-wheel in favour of the functionally better multitouch. But I don't know, iOS 7's new design seems too superficial to me to be a clear improvement. Hence why I think theyre just moving with the fad.
agree to disagree.

 

[Rogifan]

Yep. I was going to wait and upgrade to the 5S. Bought the 5 yesterday so I won't be forced to use iOS 7. Apple didn't become the largest company in the world by listening to hipsters. Or at least Steve Jobs didn't. I really think Tim Cook should be s***-canned for defacing Apple's crown jewel, iOS.

When iOS 7 hits and non-techies like my mom upgrade and wonder where their beloved iOS went, the backlash is going to be sufficient to force Apple to do a 180 on this.

Hmm...are you secretly Scott Forstall?

Anyway I doubt most iOS users would refer to it as their "beloved iOS". And very little in iOS 7 that a non-techie wouldn't understand. You still have the home button and grid of icons on the home screen. Can't see much of a learning curve.

 

[falconeight]

to each their own i guess. I still believe that the jump from iOS 6 to iOS 7 could have been done whilst preserving the character and the quirky recognizable and functional elements that made iOS what it is today.
Perhaps you're right in the same way that they ditched the iconic click-wheel in favour of the functionally better multitouch. But I don't know, iOS 7's new design seems too superficial to me to be a clear improvement. Hence why I think theyre just moving with the fad.
agree to disagree.

Why is it a fad when its not a stylish trend. Its a design choice and can't be fad. Its not like parachute pants or baggy pants. Minimalist design has been around since cavemen decorating their caves with wood to burn and, well, nothing.

 

[gingerbloke]

Why is it a fad when its not a stylish trend. Its a design choice and can't be fad. Its not like parachute pants or baggy pants. Minimalist design has been around since cavemen decorating their caves with wood to burn and, well, nothing.

If you ʇɹǝʌuı all the complaints, you'll have an accurate gauge of how people will receive iOS 7 when it is actually released

 

[teknikal90]

Why is it a fad when its not a stylish trend. Its a design choice and can't be fad. Its not like parachute pants or baggy pants. Minimalist design has been around since cavemen decorating their caves with wood to burn and, well, nothing.

Penny boards are a fad. It's a recent fad. Even though it's been there since the 1970s..
Same with Ray Ban Wayfarers and Clubmasters....since the 1950's....but its only been since the later 2000s that it's back 'in'.....
I argue, the same goes for flat'ter', minimilastic user interface designs ie. Letterpress and Outlook.

 

[gingerbloke]

Penny boards are a fad. It's a recent fad. Even though it's been there since the 1970s..
Same with Ray Ban Wayfarers and Clubmasters....since the 1950's....but its only been since the later 2000s that it's back 'in'.....
I argue, the same goes for flat'ter', minimilastic user interface designs ie. Letterpress and Outlook.

Jony is feeling flattered.

 

[falconeight]

Penny boards are a fad. It's a recent fad. Even though it's been there since the 1970s..
Same with Ray Ban Wayfarers and Clubmasters....since the 1950's....but its only been since the later 2000s that it's back 'in'.....
I argue, the same goes for flat'ter', minimilastic user interface designs ie. Letterpress and Outlook.

Sorry but iOS 7 just looks better. Its not crossbones, wood, and felt, but its nice.

 

[gingerbloke]

Sorry but iOS 7 just looks better. Its not crossbones, wood, and felt, but its nice.

^

High time people just accepted that things change, and move on. iOS SkewMorfik is gone, and iOS 7 is the new style. Accept or deny, it won't alter fact.

 

[179202]

This is a pretty amusing thread. How can design be removed!? Wouldn't that result in....nothing? haha. I thought it was a typo at first. It's a lack of understanding.

A few folk have tried to explain but OP doesn't want to listen. Why even start a discussion when you're not interested in the input of anyone else?

 

[gingerbloke]

This is a pretty amusing thread. How can design be removed!? Wouldn't that result in....nothing? haha. I thought it was a typo at first. It's a lack of understanding.

A few folk have tried to explain but OP doesn't want to listen. Why even start a discussion when you're not interested in the input of anyone else?

Wikipedia; Dieter Rams:

"Rams's ten principles of "good design"[edit]

Rams introduced the idea of sustainable development and of obsolescence being a crime in design in the 1970s.[1] Accordingly he asked himself the question: is my design good design? The answer formed his now celebrated ten principles.
Good design:[3]
Is innovative - The possibilities for progression are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for original designs. But imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic criteria. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
Is aesthetic - The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Makes a product understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Is unobtrusive - Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user's self-expression.
Is honest - It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today's throwaway society.
Is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Is environmentally friendly - Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Is as little design as possible - Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity."

 

[179202]

I heard a funny story. A teacher who is teaching a summer class on app design to kids showed the iOS 7 beta to her class. One of the kids was like, "Why did they DO that?!"

I read that article too. You've completely added the emphasis and the outcome was a hugely positive one. They were talking about potential designs for the OS and how iOS 7 positively blows the doors wide open and is really exciting.

There is a saying in the Matrix that "your mind makes it real," and I think that iOS's designers knew this, and made a system that is based on that. Skeuomorphism works because EVERYTHING is a skeuomorph: a "real" legal pad is no more real than the one in Notes app. They're both just memes. One is based on light entering your eyes, and so is other. Your brain makes it real, in either case.
....

The Matrix isn't real. It's a film. All computer concepts in it are based on how the film-makers understood designs and systems. Your musing only works if The Matrix is real. One is light bouncing off of the surface of something which is an object we call a notepad. The other is light being shone from a screen to be a representation of a notepad. Different things. An ACTUAL notepad is not Skeumorphic. You're misunderstanding the term.

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Wikipedia; Dieter Rams:

"Rams's ten principles of "good design"[edit]

Rams introduced the idea of sustainable development and of obsolescence being a crime in design in the 1970s.[1] Accordingly he asked himself the question: is my design good design? The answer formed his now celebrated ten principles.
Good design:[3]
Is innovative - The possibilities for progression are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for original designs. But imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic criteria. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
Is aesthetic - The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Makes a product understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Is unobtrusive - Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user's self-expression.
Is honest - It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today's throwaway society.
Is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Is environmentally friendly - Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Is as little design as possible - Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity."

Really unsure why you posted that. It has nothing to do with what I said? It's about the design principles of a highly regarded designer.

 

[jtfolden]

I don't know you but I would bet that you're new to being an apple fan.
What the op is describing and what a lot of people here are saying is that the new redesign doesn't feel right, the way apple has felt right in the past.

I think you probably weren't around for some big changes as Apple fanatics pulled their hair out for quite a few of them, including the introduction of OS X.

In fact, OS X started garish and then became a mess of various, conflicting design styles as Apple refined and backed away from the original gaudy release.

iOS has felt frozen in time in this respect and while I enjoyed the photo-realistic icons, the UI itself felt forgotten and neglected. Imagine if OS X 10.8 still looked like 10.0.

OS X mavericks a decade later, and it still looks fundamentally the same! Os 7 does not look fundementally the same as ios 1

No, OS X has changed just as much from it's original release as iOS 7 has now changed from it's initial design. FINALLY, iOS 7 has matured and left the garish tacky UI behind.

OS X 10.0:
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/desktop/full/macosx100.png
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/applications/internet/mail/macosx100-1-1.png

For fun, here's is the original OS X Developer Preview 3 and how Aqua looked at introduction.
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/desktop/full/macosxdp3.png

The same sort of thing happened with the sunflower iMac. White. Iconic. Guess what? Still here decade later. Timeless.

What do you mean, still here? It was a short lived design that bears no resemblance to the iMacs before or since and has long been forgotten by most. Oddly, I could totally see the sunflower iMac running an OS that resembles iOS 7.

 

[gingerbloke]

I read that article too. You've completely added the emphasis and the outcome was a hugely positive one. They were talking about potential designs for the OS and how iOS 7 positively blows the doors wide open and is really exciting.



The Matrix isn't real. It's a film. All computer concepts in it are based on how the film-makers understood designs and systems. Your musing only works if The Matrix is real. One is light bouncing off of the surface of something which is an object we call a notepad. The other is light being shone from a screen to be a representation of a notepad. Different things. An ACTUAL notepad is not Skeumorphic. You're misunderstanding the term.

----------



Really unsure why you posted that. It has nothing to do with what I said? It's about the design principles of a highly regarded designer.

Because it actually has EVERYTHING to do with what you said. Think... read it a few times, or watch Mr Rams on YouTube


"Good design is as little design as possible"

Work it out

 

[falconeight]

Wikipedia; Dieter Rams:

"Rams's ten principles of "good design"[edit]

Rams introduced the idea of sustainable development and of obsolescence being a crime in design in the 1970s.[1] Accordingly he asked himself the question: is my design good design? The answer formed his now celebrated ten principles.
Good design:[3]
Is innovative - The possibilities for progression are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for original designs. But imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic criteria. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
Is aesthetic - The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Makes a product understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Is unobtrusive - Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user's self-expression.
Is honest - It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today's throwaway society.
Is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Is environmentally friendly - Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Is as little design as possible - Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity."

Pretty cool and pretty much spot on. Taking away priority from the app and placing it on your content is pure jeanious.

 

[gingerbloke]

Pretty cool and pretty much spot on. Taking away priority from the app and placing it on your content is pure jeanious.

Yuppers!

 

[Rogifan]

Oh man those Aqua buttons are hideous. Same with the stripes.

 

[Night Spring]

Pretty cool and pretty much spot on. Taking away priority from the app and placing it on your content is pure jeanious.

On iOS 6, I used to switch the Note font to Helvetica. Made it really nice to focus on the content, I thought.

And as I've said many times before, I can't see the light yellow on white icons in iOS 7 Note. The brown on yellow in iOS 6, however, is very easy on my eyes.

I don't mind that Note app no longer looks like a notepad, but I do mind that it is so much harder to see.

 

[gingerbloke]

Great design:

http://startupsthisishowdesignworks.com/

 

[iOSOS]

to each their own i guess. I still believe that the jump from iOS 6 to iOS 7 could have been done whilst preserving the character and the quirky recognizable and functional elements that made iOS what it is today.
Perhaps you're right in the same way that they ditched the iconic click-wheel in favour of the functionally better multitouch. But I don't know, iOS 7's new design seems too superficial to me to be a clear improvement. Hence why I think theyre just moving with the fad.
agree to disagree.

Change doesnt always equal good. I feel Apple really botched it with iOS 7. They had an idea and went for it. It just didnt turn out very good. iOS 6 needed change but they should have kept rich elements like navbars with gradient and shadow, buttons. How about removing the gaussian blur with a solid gradient color. I love the gradient background on Ubunto OS for phones. The only part where I like the gaussian blur is on the keyboard. Look at Instagram and imagine the app without buttons. People need buttons to press. should we remove all the buttons on the web with hyperlinks? I bet many developers will keep buttons and ignore Apple on this part. the swipe to the left to go back can work just as fine with a button that says < Back.

I hate the + sign for adding stuff. It just looks cluttered, weird and to simple without an button.

----------

Pretty cool and pretty much spot on. Taking away priority from the app and placing it on your content is pure jeanious.

The Vesper app, Google Keep on Android and the Squarespace note app are good example of great simple design. The design of the iOS 7 notes app are just plain ugly and without logic. Yellow font on a light background?

 

[KenAFSPC]

Change doesnt always equal good. I feel Apple really botched it with iOS 7. They had an idea and went for it. It just didnt turn out very good. iOS 6 needed change but they should have kept rich elements like navbars with gradient and shadow, buttons. How about removing the gaussian blur with a solid gradient color. I love the gradient background on Ubunto OS for phones. The only part where I like the gaussian blur is on the keyboard. Look at Instagram and imagine the app without buttons. People need buttons to press. should we remove all the buttons on the web with hyperlinks? I bet many developers will keep buttons and ignore Apple on this part. the swipe to the left to go back can work just as fine with a button that says < Back.

I hate the + sign for adding stuff. It just looks cluttered, weird and to simple without an button.

The only reasonable/logical explanation I have seen for these changes was mentioned a few pages back:

Apple is moving to text-based elements (which scale) and eliminating bitmap-based graphics and toolbars (which don't scale well) to create a vector-based UI that scales to any resolution and any size screen, so they can ship new phones and other devices in different sizes and resolutions without the need for app rewrites to ensure a great experience.

That make sense to me, but the current implementation seems a bit half-baked. I understand Apple's desire to eliminate bitmaps if their goal is to have resolution-independent apps, but Apple should have developed some standard vector-based UI elements for developers to use as a substitute. And there should be some standard framework that developers can use to implement their own vector-based buttons and/or toolbars.

 

[Jimrod]

The only reasonable/logical explanation I have seen for these changes was mentioned a few pages back:

Apple is moving to text-based elements (which scale) and eliminating bitmap-based graphics and toolbars (which don't scale well) to create a vector-based UI that scales to any resolution and any size screen, so they can ship new phones and other devices in different sizes and resolutions without the need for app rewrites to ensure a great experience.

That make sense to me, but the current implementation seems a bit half-baked. I understand Apple's desire to eliminate bitmaps if their goal is to have resolution-independent apps, but Apple should have developed some standard vector-based UI elements for developers to use as a substitute. And there should be some standard framework that developers can use to implement their own vector-based buttons and/or toolbars.

Totally agree about the scaleable vector imagery and as you say - while the idea is great, the execution is a bit "meh". It's a beta but it seems pretty set so far and much of it is very nice but it doesn't feel fully integrated with itself if that makes sense. The choice of palette doesn't sit well in many cases either with many secondary/tertiary colours rather than primaries, these can get a bit too garish (magentas/cyans) in isolation.

iOS 7 is ok overall, a step forward and a nice change from "old" iOS but gets a 7/10 for execution for me. I may be surprised and by release it could be all revamped but that's not really Apple's historical style.