When iOS7 was introduced people were very 50/50 on the new style. A lot of people called it 'childish looking'. However, most OS/websites etc use this style. I was wondering whether we will look back and cringe? Much like we see a hairstyle from years gone past and say 'what were you thinking?'
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Will we look back and cringe?
- Thread starter CChevW
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Not so much. I look back at iOS 5 and think it was hideous. Personally iOS 1-6 were hideous while iOS 7 & 8 look more refined. iOS 9 seems to be focused more on stability than software features.
When the design will change again (whenever it will be) there will once again suddenly be those who will be saying how dated and horrible the previous (the current iOS 7 and up) design was, and others who will be really hoping that Apple will somehow bring it back.
Probably, I personally think ios 1-6 looks ancient compared to ios 7-8, it hurst my eye. However I think the childish looking comments mainly spawn from some of the app logos rather than the actually UI.
I would probably argue that "material design in android lollipop" looks more childish than ios, I mean every app is full of different colours which makes it look like its designed for a 5 year old.
Not really suddenly, more and more people were saying this a year or two before iOS 7.
Sure, there certainly were some that were saying it, but then there were also plenty of others that seemingly pretty much just jumped on the bandwagon essentially.
This is the biggest problem I have. Apple released iOS 8 when it was still clearly in beta. It shouldn't have been released until it was ready, ie iOS 9
Yup!
Fisher-Price was a tad bit miffed that Apple leveraged their "look". I know my grandkids liked it.
Like the others in this thread, this is exactly what I think when I come across an iOS device running pre-iOS 7.
Everything's so dark and clunky looking. Very very dated, IMO.
And yet Ive has reverted some of his design to what was on pre iOS 7. How ironic.
It's all subjective. Some people will cringe, some people will nostalgia to them times when iOS looked like it does.
I've personally always preferred the new design over the old one, even if it did take some pretty huge cues from Windows Phone and Android.
I've personally always preferred the new design over the old one, even if it did take some pretty huge cues from Windows Phone and Android.
I loved iOS 6 and really miss it. If I could have the features of iOS 8 with the look of iOS 6 I'd be a very happy man.
iOS 6 charmed me to no end. I still have some old apps that haven’t been updated and that still have the old UI with the blue-grey tool bar, bevelled buttons, pinstriped backgrounds and black tab bar. Still gives me a different sensation when using these apps, like it actually responds to your fingers. I kind of miss that. However, it does look dated now as it hasn’t aged well since it was abandoned. No argument about that.
Everything looks dated in the rear-view mirror. This is no exception. Just look at hair and make up from the 1900s. Every 10 years, half a generation the style changes and the past looks horrifically bad. Only CARS seem to not do so and only in some designs.
I have to look at my parents' iOS 5 and 6 devices all the time. I really don't miss those versions of iOS.
But I also freak out when they ask me about using their mouse with Windows, because now that I've been using a trackpad for years and years, even that is so foreign to me now.
But I also freak out when they ask me about using their mouse with Windows, because now that I've been using a trackpad for years and years, even that is so foreign to me now.
It's all subjective. What bothered me during the iOS 6 --> 7 transition was the folks who seemed to feel that flat design was inevitable or inherently better. It's just a design choice, which one may or may not like based on personal preference. Personally, I like iOS 6 better than 7/8 in terms of looks, but I think a compromise (simpler than iOS 6 but richer than 7) would be best of all. To my personal taste.
Oh the pinstriping HAD to go. I hated that from day one in 2007.
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My feelings exactly. Some sort of middle ground would have been nice.
That is actually really nice. I did something similar for an app I designed in spring 2013 before iOS 7 was announced. It's amazing how many design iterations I had to go through to force myself into a flatter design because I knew that was the direction Apple was headed. It looked so out of place alongside the other apps on my phone. It ended up going to the developers and being made after iOS 7 came out. I think it matched iOS 7 closely enough that I didn't worry about changing the design before luanch. It was unique. Had subtle gradients, some light thin shadows. Like 85% iOS 7 and 15% iOS 6. Used a darker theme too, so no blinding whites which irritate me. The #1 thing I would change about the design of iOS is having a dark mode/theme.
Anyway, I redesigned the app again last autumn and we found a new studio to develop it this spring, so the update should go out later this spring. Still dark, but incorporated more of the blur. In this one view we have a list of stories, and on the left is the thumbnail and the right has the title and subheading. The background behind it is a subtle blurred version of the thumbnail which gives it a touch of color and sense of relation to the thumbnail next to it. This allows us to remove separators as each chunk of content in the list is unique. Kinda hard to explain but in the end it looks good. Still dark but flatter throughout, designed wire icons but made them a little thicker than standard iOS, and the blur to give it a fun enhancement. I haven't seen anything like it on the store, but it probably exists somewhere.
If you mean look back pre-iOS 7 and cringe, then yes. It's already happened to me.
I've had a few occasions to fiddle with the in-law's older iPhone running iOS 6 and it struck me instantly how bulky the interface felt, almost muddy. It was refreshing to get back to my phone.
ugh, yes, I'm one of those people who champions the changes made. Slightly better contrast on a menu once in a while doesn't matter to me when the entire thing is incredibly dull and one-dimensional when it comes to operation. Another iOS 6 would have made iOS irrelevant. If it was Forstall and his team who were behind that dead end, letting him go was perfectly justified. For me 8 shows how a lot of different things can be done with the phone the right way, and Android is only starting to catch up again. And I think the look has matured, I've always loved the loud colors for Music, Photos, Safari, and the rest, and now I think it's about perfect.
I think iOS could use a faint drop shadow under the icons. The icons tend to get lost in the home screen background.
Why do on/off sliders have drop shadows but the icons do not?
I hardly ever change my background because once I find one that clearly shows all of my icons (both dark and light colored icons), I'm afraid that I won't be able to find another one that works with my icon layout.
Sometimes I'll pick a background that has a lot of green in it, but a few of the icons in my dock are green and they basically disappear when the dock background blurs green.
Why do on/off sliders have drop shadows but the icons do not?
I hardly ever change my background because once I find one that clearly shows all of my icons (both dark and light colored icons), I'm afraid that I won't be able to find another one that works with my icon layout.
Sometimes I'll pick a background that has a lot of green in it, but a few of the icons in my dock are green and they basically disappear when the dock background blurs green.
I concur, that design is really beautiful. I do think now that Apple did go overboard with the 'flat-ness' in iOS 7/8 and hope they bring some of styling from Yosemite to iOS.