
Apple’s WWDC invite suddenly makes sense - joshuamerrill
http://josh.io/apples-wwdc-invite-suddenly-makes-sense
======
smackfu
The thing is that the previous years of invites haven't really had any deeper
meaning, going back to 2010 or so. They've just been getting more and more
stylish in representing "a lot of apps".

2010: Tube tiled with app icons

2011: Apple logo "window" into space tiled with app icons

2012: Apple logo made up of translucent round rects (stylized app icons) of
various colors.

2013: Translucent round rects stacked on top of each other

~~~
jordn
I was thinking of an exception but it turns out it was instead a poster they
put on the outside of the Yerba Buena Center
[[http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/09/yerba-buena-stretched-
ic...](http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/09/yerba-buena-stretched-icon/)] - the
background was a load of stretched iPhone apps - hinting at them 'stretching'
the iPhone to create iPhone 5.

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blub
Sounds like the Harmattan look. Each app had a flat modern UI with a highlight
of color: <http://harmattan-dev.nokia.com/docs/ux/pages/Colour.html>

~~~
Geee
Exactly, that came to my mind too. Specifically, Harmattan's in-built apps
came with color schemes for broad categories: blueish for communication,
orangish for productivity, purplish for media etc.

~~~
noahpillans
It seems that Apple has already begun a similar and slightly more subtle
approach in iOS 6 with their colored status bars. Communication apps
(Messages, Contacts, Phone, Mail) have a blue status bar; Information apps
(Safari, Weather, Stocks) have a black status bar. I could see Apple expanding
upon this design premise to subdivide apps into their respective content areas
like Harmattan.

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danso
I'm not a designer, and especially not one with skills in color taste...but
what would be the point of this? I mean, this splash of color is helpful for
the Facebook and Twitter apps, which feature streams that can be mistaken for
each other and also for the times in which I've opened an in-app browser
window.

But for Apple's core apps, such as the Map app, it's pretty clear that I'm in
the Map app and not in Messages. Furthermore, Facebook and Twitter have about
3-4 years of color-branding experience on their side...in that, I
automatically recognize their respective shades of blue as belonging to them.

In addition, this color-splash for core apps seem to add a few negative
consequences:

1\. It couples colors to apps in a way that may be detrimental for the
operating experience in general...for example, if I've been "trained" to think
that "green" means "Message" app...that causes a bit of a disjoint for third-
party messaging apps that do not use green.

2\. Will "danger" buttons (such as "Delete") no longer be red, in the case
that one of the core apps has red as its splash color?

3\. Will the use of color be so critical in distinguishing the core apps that
color blind users will operate at a disadvantage?

~~~
GuiA
What's the point of rounded corners? Or gradients? Or textured backgrounds?
Design is not a hard science :) 🔨🐒

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GuiA
Honestly, if Apple releases an entire new look for UIKit without breaking
retro-compatibility, I think the iOS team can be commended as one of the most
impressive engineering teams in the world.

~~~
dclowd9901
Why? Apps have already pretty well silo'd off their designs from the base
looks and feel of iOS, and the ones that still rely heavily on it will
probably be grandfathered in with the old look.

My guess is the core UI (home screen, title bar, alerts, notification center)
will simply get a face lift, while individual apps will need to update to take
advantage. I doubt we'll see a Metro style overhaul.

------
ok_craig
The Play Store on Android is designed exactly this way as well. I don't really
have any strong opinions on whether it's good or bad design, but it's
interesting to see the top mobile OSes start to converge in this direction.

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rsync
It would be nice if the WWDC invite could somehow be interpreted as having
_anything at all_ to do with their PC products and/or their OSX operating
system.

Not only does it appear not to, but prior to this comment, the string "osx" is
not in this comment thread anywhere.

~~~
daph
Yeah I don't give two shits about the new iOS stuff. However I'm in the market
for a new laptop and a I want a retina macbook. These rumors of the hardware
refresh are killing me.

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hayksaakian
1\. As users learn UI abstractions, they no longer need skeuomorphic crutches
to figure out what's what.

2\. Designs that used to be helpful are then considered clutter.

3\. UIs become flatter.

4\. New category of hardware is introduced

5\. rinse and repeat

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guyzero
Kremlinology.

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troymc
This reminds me of Microsoft's Office Suite. It seems the current colors are:

Access - Red

Excel - Green

OneNote - Purple

Outlook - Blue

Publisher - Teal

PowerPoint - Orange

Word - Navy Blue

New headline suggestion: "Apple Copies Microsoft Design Ideas"? Just kidding!
Associating a color with each product in your lineup is an old practice.

~~~
Maarten88
Clearly Microsoft has started this trend toward flat design and away from
skeuomorphic design. Mcrosoft calls this authenticly digital" in their talks
and documentation on the metro design language [1].

It's funny that blogs and articles about this upcoming change never even
mention Microsoft or Metro. Apple copying Microsoft creates cognitive
dissonance [2], it is counter to the strong belief that Apple is the industry
leader in design.

[1] [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/hh78123...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/hh781237.aspx)

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance>

------
andersonmat
MMXII => 2013

That's pretty cool how they almost achieved a "mirror" effect for the
characters.

------
ableal
My thought was "Hey, rainbow apple logo for the XXI century."

Kind of hard to put that on device lids/backs, though. But it would look nice
on stickers.

P.S. Amusingly, <http://danhadi.com/blog/?p=526> (classic rainbow on modern
lid) comes up in fourth place for me with
<https://www.google.com/search?q=rainbow+apple+logo>

------
hcarvalhoalves
More rumours. I wouldn't hold my breath. These Apple rumour-mills (the one the
author is using as source) always miss by a mile.

------
ljf
This colour scheme seems possible to me, especially with the latest iPod Touch
(and Nano) colour schemes and the rumoured iPad and iPad Mini bodies that
pictures emerged of a few months ago. I wonder in the hardware refresh in
November will reflect the new colour scheme? I'd like a more colourful device
range.

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kylesethgray
So the app icons represent apps... and??

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gfodor
I can't help but notice these layered colors look like transparent cellophane.
Maybe this is the metaphor, app controls, etc, are reflective transparencies
layered atop data?

~~~
Alphasite_
I know its a little odd, but im hoping they take design cues from the password
entry screen on the iPad, thats is by far and away my preferred aesthetic for
the OS. Its pretty much perfect for its job, visually attractive, simple,
uncluttered, easy to use and does precisely the job it was meant to do.

It could be simpler, but I think that would detract from it.

------
solarmist
I wonder if that's the look that "folders" are going to have in iOS 7 then? I
think that'd look pretty nice.

~~~
rounak
The nice look wouldn't hold up when apps with icons that don't have a good
color scheme are stacked over each other

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daudi
gald to know that some has founded and decoded the wwdc 2013 banner before
wwdc 2013 keynote

[http://www.techglued.com/wwdc-2013-keynote-address-
scheduled...](http://www.techglued.com/wwdc-2013-keynote-address-scheduled-
monday-june-10-apple/)

------
jjellyy
Spot on analysis. stoked for WW!

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cremnob
I really hope the changes aren't extreme. I'm not a tech geek and I work in
finance in a non-technology role (I'm only on HN for my consumer-level
interest in tech, and the conversation here is better than other forums like
reddit). I am pretty much the mainstream consumer and I actually like iOS a
lot as it is. I hope Apple aren't making changes for the easily bored tech
geek/pundit crowd who require change for the sake of change. They're not
idiots so I'm confident that whatever changes are made will be well thought
out, I'm just a tiny bit concerned because the only people on the web that are
vocal about it _are_ the tech geeks.

~~~
geuis
I think I'm representative of the engineering tech type. I'm looking forward
to some UI updates to help refresh the look of the product. I love the
hardware, but after seeing and using Windows phones with the Metro UI and
recent improvements in Android, there's a lot in iOS that's dated.

I'd like to see a rethink of how certain things like notifications are
accessed. Swiping should be from the bottom, not the top. It's very hard to
stretch one handed to access it. We should be able to set custom default apps.
Being able to have micro views in apps that can display on the lock screen
would be great.

So I'm with you, I don't like change for the sake of change. But as a 5 year
iOS user myself, there's definitely room for some updates.

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kmasters
Look, there is simply no chance that Apple is going with flat UI and color
coded icons. The changes wont be extreme, Apple is not going to fire their
graphics department so they can implement flat squares. Yes they will get rid
of the kitch.

Think how many peoples' apps would break if they went to Flat UI, think how
many users they would alienate? Think how iOS is supposed to have some kinship
with OS X design ethos. Is anything in OS X flat?

Linen is staying. Drop shadows, gloss and rounded corners are staying.

~~~
eightyone
Apple isn't going to go Metro-flat, but the next version of iOS will
definitely be flatter.

The OS X comparison you are making is bad because before now Jonathan Ive
wasn't in charge of user-interface design, Scott Forstall was. Both of them
have drastically different aesthetic design tastes.

It's well known that Jonathan Ive finds textures such as the linen and
corinthian leather tacky. They will be removed.

