
iOS 7 - llambda
http://mattgemmell.com/2013/06/12/ios-7/
======
jmduke
Man, iOS 7 feedback is incredibly frustrating for no reason that actually
matters.

I feel like I spent the past few years falling in love with flat design, on
mobile and on the web -- and I read article after article from historically
pro-Apple bloggers/authors explaining that no, flat design was fundamentally a
bad move: the strongest metaphor is that of the phone as a tool -- that we
needed skeumorphism, we need hints for interactivity, we needed polish.

And now iOS 7 is out! And I'm excited, because the flat (okay, 'mature')
design philosophy that I've been told is a bad idea is finally here -- and now
it's suddenly a great leap forward because Apple decided to do it? When
Microsoft decided that the average consumer understood what a smartphone was
for and no longer needed the physical cues, they were wrong and fools -- but
when Ive decides it, its because its time to move to mature and modern?

Here's the thing, though: I think iOS 7, on the whole, looks worse than iOS 6.
The stock icons look outright ugly; interfaces like the call-answer screen and
the calculator look poorly designed, and everything has the sense that it just
needs another run or two through the review process. Not that it's
irreversibly bad, but I don't think it's executing as well as WP or MIUI are.
(With exceptions, of course: I think the translucency paradigm looks great, as
well as the changes to the UI Kit.)

(People arguing 'its just a beta, it'll obviously change over time': what
happened to Apple's relentless pursuit of quality before introducing something
to the public? What's the point of secrecy if you're showing off v0.8 and not
v1.0?)

I imagine actually _using_ the new iOS won't be bad at all. It's just reading
about it that frustrates me, which is definitely a sign I should be doing less
of it.

(I own an iPad, iPhone, and MBA.)

~~~
nish1500
The liberal use of fluorescent colours makes it an eyesore. Apply (or Ive)
simply does not understand graphic design anymore. It's a disaster of epic
proportions.

~~~
zw
Things that are "disaster[s] of epic proportions": floods, genocide, NSA
spying

Things that are not: fucking betas of mobile telephone software

~~~
nish1500
dis·as·ter (d-zstr, -ss-) n. [...] 2\. Informal: A total failure: The dinner
party was a disaster. [...]

[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disaster](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disaster)

~~~
epo
Your use of the word 'epic' was juvenile exaggeration, or illiteracy.
Appealing to 'informal usage' when trying to express criticism is also
juvenile or illiterate. And WTF is the free dictionary? The only source you
could find to echo your mangling of English?

~~~
nish1500
Your use of the word illiterate was juvenile exaggeration

------
dylangs1030
I'm glad someone wrote a blog post like this.

It's getting to be somewhat annoying how many people are whining about Windows
Phone and Android similarities. Design and engineering decisions are not made
in a vacuum. Android copies from iOS and vice versa - they each follow the
cultural trends of smart design.

I would much rather see blog posts like this - where the author considers the
iOS in its own right instead of insisting on nitpicking what's original. Now I
can actually see the innovation that went into designing the iOS 7 interface.
And as someone typing this comment _on_ iOS 7 beta, I've come to a deeper
appreciation of what's already in my hands.

It's not helpful to accuse large design houses and engineering teams of
copying each other. That's like saying supercars aren't original because they
universally use sleek, aerodynamic ("sexy") design features. No, that's just
what sells and what makes sense. It's a natural maturation and trend towards
intelligent design. It's just iteration.

It's true that touch interfaces no longer need to be "taught" really. We
intuitively know that gestures will do things in the same way (and more
efficiently) than buttons. It's all about reducing cluttered design and adding
more functionality without reducing usable space. I'm glad we're moving
towards this.

~~~
runjake
_> It's getting to be somewhat annoying how many people are whining about
Windows Phone and Android similarities. Design and engineering decisions are
not made in a vacuum._

I agree, but the similarities are being pointed out precisely _because_ Apple
(and their major pundits like Marco and Gruber) makes a big deal about how
others have borrowed ideas from them.

For example, the infamous "Redmond/Mountain View, start your photocopiers"
lines, and Marco/Gruber's frequent quips like "Hmm, I've seen something like
this before..." in regards to something Google or Samsung has done.

Apple's smugness is what's getting them, not their borrowing of ideas, itself.

~~~
Domenic_S
Borrowing ideas is only a big deal if you're ripping on those you borrow from.
Like if someone from Apple were to say "MS just can't do design right, Metro
is terrible start to finish" and then they borrow from Metro, that's
newsworthy.

Following current design trends and adding a splash of your own flavor to
them... that's status quo, isn't it?

~~~
runjake
You're missing the whole point of my comment. Yes, that's the status quo. But
Apple's (and their pundits') history of snarky comments against this is why
people are dishing this criticism.

"Some of their own medicine" as it were.

~~~
McPants
It's homeopathic medicine in comparison.

------
toyg
I don't care about flatness or skeutransmogrification or whatnot, but the damn
thing must WORK.

Look at his iMessage screen comparison [1]: yes, the old screen looks a bit
geocities, but you can actually read text very well; the new screen is almost
unreadable. The prime aim of iMessage is to make people read text, not to look
cool.

It doesn't matter if there are options to thicken the font -- the whole point
of OSX/iOS UI was that _you should not need options_ , because _defaults
should be good enough for most people_. This is clearly not the case with what
we've seen of iOS7, and that's a problem.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattgemmell/9023510971/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattgemmell/9023510971/)

~~~
paganel
From a fellow know-nothing when it comes to "flatness" and skeu-something I
was a little bit surprised when the author complained that the old "receive a
call" interface was full with alert-like buttons. They are supposed to be
"Alert" buttons, for crying out loud, as in you're asleep in your bed, the
phone starts ringing which means you have been "alerted", you're now woken up
and ready to answer the call or deny it.

Which brings me to my second point, that is where is the "Deny" button/action
in the new interface. ? I could only see "Answer" and "Remind me later".

~~~
jsz0
Not sure why it doesn't appear in the screenshots but it's definitely there.
Used it today on iOS7 B1.

~~~
annnnd
It is there - if the phone is not locked when you receive the call. Otherwise
you have to press power button twice to reject. That hasn't changed from iOS6.

------
ryanstout
Hopefully I'm not the only one that thinks this is going to kill usability.
The reason old people can figure their way around <=iOS6 is that everything
that can be tapped looks like a button. A more "mature" audience isn't what
apple's good at appealing to.

This article seems to sum up some of my other complaints fairly well:
[http://wolfslittlestore.be/tasteless/](http://wolfslittlestore.be/tasteless/)

~~~
mintplant
I'm volunteering at a center that teaches senior citizens various computer
skills. One of the courses we teach is on how to use their iPhones. I'm
dreading the moment that iOS7 is released: all of these people are going to
have to start right back at the beginning in their understanding.

~~~
ja27
I think Apple would be happy to lose all the "silver surfers" and regain their
cool with teens, tweens, and young adults. Teens don't want the same phone
that their grandmother has and they don't want the same tablet they're forced
to use at school.

~~~
Pxtl
Idunno, I think Apple is already moving a bit away from the "pure cool"
targeting and are just going to grab as much as possible now... the "mini"
lines are a huge compromise on this because they're obviously created to be a
low-cost alternative to their flagship platforms.

Apple is the prestigious brand. Having a budget line compromises that image.

~~~
encoderer
Companies can thread this needle just fine.

Go to a Mercedes dealership. You can buy a $32k C-Class or a $132k CL.

For that matter, go to an Apple Store. You can get a $400 iPod or a $90
Shuffle.

Or a $3000 Mac Pro or a $600 Mac Mini.

------
antidaily
The thin fonts and thin border icons are just ugly in my opinion. They dont
represent clarity or a lighter feel; they look cheap. I like flat design. It's
possible to create beautiful flat icons:
[http://asianmack.com/homescreens](http://asianmack.com/homescreens)

iOS7 just doesnt get that aesthetic right. I've only been using it for two
days but I doubt I'll change my mind.

------
bcks
Why yes, I would like to enhance text legibility:
[http://i.imgur.com/5XhQsM9.png](http://i.imgur.com/5XhQsM9.png)

~~~
rogerbraun
This seems like a compromise. Someone knew that the standard text was somewhat
hard to read, so he tried to change the standard setting, but someone with
more power wanted to keep it. So they implemented the larger size as an
option.

~~~
Coincoin
They could have named the option "Make text bolder" instead.

------
hop
After using it for a day --

Great: Picture organization. Airdrop, this will be big. No more search
field/page when you slide left on the home screen! Slide up settings is
helpful (wish they had a link to settings.app there too. Screenshots of
background apps are helpful. App store is back to vertical scrolling for the
top charts. Safari top and bottom nav shrink when you are scrolling a site.

Not great: New keyboard is harder to see and type on, space bar got smaller.
Not a fan of the icons and thin fonts. Wish messages were more compact.
Calendar doesn't indicate events at the month view (or i haven't figured out
how.) iRadio is a clone of pandora that's less simple.

Also, iOS7 now pops up a "This cable is not certified" when I plug in third
party lightning cables. Looks like they are stepping up their proprietary
authentication. Not a fan of that.

~~~
r00fus
Are your third party cables MFI certified? (e.g.: I just bought a bunch on
monoprice that are MFI, I hope they work in iOS7)

------
kraemate
I cant believe how quickly UI and design have fallen now that Jobs is gone.
Things like childish gradients and terrible icons. Don't even get me started
on the contrast -- light text on fluorescent green background and the really
thin font. I could only draw one conclusion from the comparison of iOS 6 vs 7
--- it's as if Apple has done everything possible to make it unusable.

Steve would probably have fired the tasteless "designer" who came up with this
utterly broken redesign.

~~~
daughart
People on here are nuts.

How are the new gradients any different than the old gradients?! Any more
"childish"?! (Look at the Messages app for example.) Is there any consistency
between the old Voice Memos, Apple Store, Videos, iTunes, and Stocks apps? Do
these icons really strike you as fundamentally better than the new ones?

~~~
Flying_Dwarf
> _People on here are nuts._

Funny, I think people who LIKE this design are nuts. People are nuts indeed!

> _How are the new gradients any different than the old gradients?!_

OMG?!?111 Well, it's not that the gradients are different, it's that the
colors are bright and vivid and each icon has little distinction from the
next. Oh, and it looks like something my 6-year-old nephew would draw with his
colored pencil set.

~~~
daughart
I appreciate that you cleverly responded to my incredulity being expressed via
interrobang with an internet-styled typo, but I still find your argument
unconvincing.

If you look at the icons I mentioned, Voice Memos, Apple Store, Stocks,
Videos, iTunes, Game Center, etc., they too are bright and vivid and have
small inconsistencies. Why is the radial effect different between Apple Store
and iTunes? Why is the light source for Videos different from Stocks?

The only difference between these icons and the new ones is that the old ones
looked like they were designed by a self-important designer, thinking, "How
much arbitrary detail can I pack in this icon?", rather than your extremely
talented nephew.

------
smacktoward
_iOS 7 foregoes borders, instead relying on colour to indicate interactivity_

Good thing there aren't people out there who are color-blind, then...

Oh, wait.

~~~
fudged71
That's me! I was browsing the new UI guidelines and couldn't understand what
was and what wasn't a link/action in the screenshots that they used for
examples! And I shouldn't need to turn on accessibility services for slight
colorblindness... the design should accomodate for us.

The navigation looks lik the same color as the "Home" and "Phone" labels. Are
those actions?

~~~
inthewind
I'm worried about this.

My experience of Windows mobile is Windows 8 on a tablet, and I had pretty
much nothing but contempt for it. And failed to see anything stylish about it
at all!

I want links/buttons/actions to stand out. That doesn't mean it has to look
like a button. It could be text with a halo, a shadow, or an effect that comes
into play as you begin to interact with the device so the controls jump out at
you, or are overlayed or something. Don't just present raw text at me. Though
having said that, I'm sure Apple will make it work, where others haven't.

iOS 6 looks pretty infantile by comparison, but the new screenshots and icons
don't look that nice or that cohesive either.

(I was hoping that they might just drop the old school 'i' from iOS and just
call it Apple mobile OS or something, it grates my ears and eyes, the name is
like soo 1999.)

The thing that I notice from the stills is that the typeface appears quite
weak. I had the same issue with Windows 8, my eyes just can't read it
comfortably, I'm not sure why that is - and it looks more diluted now - and
there is less contrast in general. Though perhaps it will look okay on a
retina display.

~~~
kryten
The Metro interface works well for a phone format device. Literally everyone I
know picks up my Lumia and just uses it as if they've been using it for years.
It just makes sense and is really intuitive. Also, apart from a big chunk of
3rd party apps written by morons, it's 100% consistent and smooth as anything
even on the shittiest of handsets.

I've had at least 4 people I know toss their iOS device in favor of a WP8
handset in the last couple of months.

Windows 8 however is a stinking turd. It doesn't work for that in the same way
that your metro signs aren't 40' advertising boards. Most of the UI is empty
and pointless padding resulting in no visual cues and terrible usability.

Go and play with a phone sized device for a bit and see how you get on.

------
moogleii
I feel he focuses on the best parts of iOS 7, which I admit are quite nice.
But there are definitely a few things that, to me, don't meet the old Apple
standards of great usability.

Just a few things I noticed: The confusing unlock and initial welcome screen.
They lack clear indication on which way to swipe or that you're even supposed
to swipe at all (welcome screen). It's a subtle and momentary weakness that is
addressed the moment you figure it out, but truly excellent design should
avoid such issues; minimalism doesn't mean zeroing things out.

The month view being useless for showing upcoming events in the calendar app
(the previous version would show you a scroll of upcoming events for the
currently selected month).

Spotlight is summoned via a downward swipe, but is dismissed by an asymmetric
action (either x out your search field to clear your search results, or hit
the physical home key).

All minor quips, but it's the difference between UI designed by, say, your avg
coder who trivializes the UX domain, and UI designed by a truly talented UX
guy. But I'm hopeful since it's only the first beta.

------
methodin
It is certainly possible to de-clutter without making it look like complete
shit. It's the odd decisions all over that just don't make sense, for example
using red for primary actions or providing no contrast. Those are basic things
even non-designers would know.

I think the reason for the backlash, and rightly justified, is that these
seemingly capricious design decisions would seem to underpin a larger
fundamental flaw with the overall direction - one that Apple historically is
not known for. You can justify the goal, which is of course a good one, but
there is not way in hell you can justify the implementation.

~~~
angrydev
This is my issue with the redesign. I'm all for less clutter but I really
don't think this is how apple should go about doing it. On the whole it looks
far uglier than the previous style, and that's what most people care about. I
think they have not reached a balance of minimalistic while being pleasing to
the eye.

------
EGreg
I am usually a fan of Jony Ive's design, but this seems to exhibit a lot of
windows-envy. When did Apple start copying design from Microsoft?

The home-screen icons are probably the worst part of the design. There are
certainly good parts as well. But Apple's skeumorphic borders and backgrounds
were always distinctively Apple, and contributed to make people love the
brand, now the iOS just looks like everything else. Android is flat. Windows
is flat. And as people pointed out, what about the colorblind?

~~~
Yhippa
Cupertino, start your photocopiers!

------
jgrall
I agree with the author of the article that overall iOS 7 represents a big
step forward in terms of design.

However, there are some glaring warts that weren't discussed. Most notable
among the goofs is the new "Control Center" feature. What's odd is that Apple
seems particularly proud of it judging by how frequently it appears in their
iOS 7 marketing materials. To be clear, I think that the idea of giving quick
access to frequently used controls is a good one. However the current visual
design execution of this idea is abysmal.

IMHO, the current design of iOS 7 Control Center is a jumbled mess that
doesn't seem consistent with the rest of the new design. It violates a bunch
of the new design conventions, and conceptually represents a grab-bag of
misfit controls that have little reason to be together on the screen at the
same time.

The controls shown in Control Center don't use the new convention of tinting
to a bright color to indicate interactivity, but instead opt for inverting
between light and dark to indicate on/off. Additionally, some of the buttons
have borders, while others don't. Some are circles, some are rounded
rectangles, others are floating in whitespace. Some less important controls
(AirDrop) are big, other more important ones (WiFi) are small, and they're all
stacked on top of each other in a big jumbled mess.

Here's how I propose Apple improve the design of iOS 7's Control Center:

\- Adopt a consistent control element design: no borders, color hinting etc.

\- Remove the bottom row of app shortcuts. Except for the flashlight these are
not controls, they're links. \- Remove AirDrop and Airplay. Not controls
either.

\- Refine that ugly down arrow on the top of the pane. It's too chunky and is
encroaching on the icons below.

\- Increase the opacity on the panel to improve readability.

------
crazygringo
> _The thing is, we’ve grown up. We don’t require hand-holding to tell us what
> to click or tap... iOS 7 is an iOS for a more mature consumer... who doesn’t
> want anything getting in the way of their content._

Even though the author is defending this, this hits the nail on the head for
why I _dislike_ this style.

I _do_ want hand-holding to know what to click or tap. So does my mother. I
don't want to have to guess what the designer wanted. I don't want to have a
phone that requires me to be a "mature" consumer. I don't want to have to
_think_ when using it. And I _want_ things to get in the way of my content --
things that help organize it, delineate it, and let me interact with it in
clear and unambiguous ways. I didn't buy my phone to admire pretty pictures of
my contacts -- I bought it to tap and swipe my way to getting stuff done
quicker.

The original quote above isn't really about flat design -- I personally think
flat design, done right, is great. The quote is about a different philosophy
-- that just happens to have gone hand-in-hand with the new flat design
movement. But I don't know what to call it -- an anti-interface movement? A
make-the-user-guess movement? Microsoft's been doing this for a few years now;
only now has Apple jumped on the bandwagon.

~~~
Karunamon
Do you really think that you have to.. well.. think more, given the new
design?

Look at the old vs the new - the chrome is still there, it's just taken
backseat to the content. It's not at all unclear what to click on to
accomplish what you want to do. The call screen for instance. It's still
immediately obvious what does what.. slide to answer, and a couple of buttons
to decline with a note.

Settings and contacts screen - the "<" cue on the top left which goes back,
similar to every modern web browser.

Maybe I'm missing something here, is there a thing or two you can point out
that seems harder or more confusing on IOS 7 than 6?

------
bane
I've been waiting for blog posts like these, the ones that used to criticize
everything that wasn't Apple until Apple starts to do them also, and now
they're the best thing ever.

~~~
jacobparker
Is this really the most interesting comment you could think to leave?

Author of the blog: an interesting and insightful read, thank you.

------
therandomguy
That first image says it all for me. We are on a iOS 6 contact page and I want
to facetime. There is a button right there. I know I can click on it and what
exactly it will do. The contrast on the text is right and my brain is scanning
for a section/button to latch on to. It finds it. Okay, change of mind. I
don't want to facetime but rather send a message. Brain scanning for "message"
button starts and finds it in a fraction of a second (not just visual but the
expectation that a related feature will have have a similar way to be
invoked).

Now iOS7. Scanned for facetime. They don't have it on the contact sheet.
Wait... they do. For some reason I didn't register that at all on the first
glance. Now message. They definitely don't have it: home, mobile, facetime,
iCloud and work. That's it. Wait.. that cannot be right. Re-scan slowly. I see
a speech bubble next to mobile phone number. Maybe that is it. I hope it is
clickable. Doesn't look like a button.

------
tolmasky
_You will, however, probably find that it feels more fluid, responsive and
modern._

Sounds like someone who hasn't actually installed it yet. Perhaps it will feel
more fluid and responsive when it ships, but that is not the case today.

~~~
mullingitover
But at least battery life is also dramatically worse.

~~~
mjhagen
Look in the dev forum there's a reason for it, not really a fix yet, but at
least it's narrowed down. Also, it's a beta and these issues are to be
expected at this time.

~~~
mullingitover
True, and I'm not bitter about it. I think I got it sorted out by eliminating
the background updates for stocks and weather, and aggressively killing any
apps I'm not using.

------
kfury
I really like the side-by-side comparison, buy why use a dark, non-default
background for the iOS 6 home screen and a light one for the iOS 7 home
screen? It looks like you're tossing objectivity to push a point.

~~~
adaml_623
90% of the compared screens don't seem to be a like for like comparison. Seems
to be a bit cherry picked.

------
Aloisius
It reminds me of the Windows Phone. The specifics of the UI are different, but
the philosophy behind the UI seems to be the same.

It seems inevitable, when I first saw the original WP7, I thought it made the
iPhone look old and that one thing that Apple does not like is looking dated.

~~~
sp332
Microsoft also has a better term for their philosophy than "flat". They call
it "authentically digital".

------
larrykubin
Ah, so if I don't like it, I'm not a "mature consumer" and don't understand
digital surfaces.

~~~
publicfig
I don't think that's what it said at all.

------
skc
Must be annoying to be Google or Microsoft right now. There's something odd
about all these platitudes for features and design decisions that were lifted
from competing platforms.

Where were all these posts when Windows Phone or Android introduced these
UI/UX ideas?

~~~
jkubicek
I run primarily in iOS dev circles and everyone I know who has played with a
Windows phone has gushed about it. I've always thought it was better than iOS
in a lot of ways. For a while I had considered switching phones, but I
couldn't deal with the lack of apps (at that time).

------
eatitraw
I wonder: where did this pictures come from? It looks to me like someone
cleverly designed them to accentuate the (possible) beauty and novelty of the
new design.

Just look at the first five pictures at the blog post:

1) The left part shows just apple logo. The right one shows a man smiling.

2) The left part contains no pictures at all - just some text, and the right
part contain a picture of a nice girl.

3) Both sides of the picture contain a girl smiling. But the girl on the right
is definitely looks more open and bright. Heck, even the teeth on the right
photo seems more white.

4 & 5) The fifth picture(ios7 collage) contains more smiling people than the
fourth picture(ios6 collage).

I am pretty sure there is no coincidence.

~~~
leoc
I think the iOS 6 screenshots are just quickly taken from the author's real
phone, while the iOS 7 shots are from Apple's iOS 7 marketing. So it's
unsurprising, but not intentional, that the iOS 7 screenshots look more
carefully designed to please than the iOS 6 ones.

------
grandalf
I can't believe anyone likes the old one. I think the IOS audience just might
be getting a bit old and stodgy.

~~~
Flying_Dwarf
Ha! Those exact words are going to bite Apple so hard when iOS 7 is released.

Old people love ornamentation. My 91 year old grandmother can barely
distinguish buttons on her iPhone 4, I pity how she'll use iOS 7.

~~~
90002
"Well, to be honest, she can always sign up for One to One if she needs to
learn how to interact with iOS 7's magical new interface." \- Apple employee's
response in a few months.

------
leoc
Can some kind graphic designer or art historian pinpoint what the art style
(including the colour scheme) of the new app icons is based on? (Most
obviously Photos, Camera, Clock, Game Center and Newsstand.) I know that it's
a (probably) mid-late '60s colour-printing, cartoon-art or children's-book
style (based on cut-outs or stencils?) but I can't identify it any more
precisely than that.

In a way it's strange that iOS would adopt these icons at the same time that
it's ripping out the skeuomorphisms. After all, beyond the complaints about
wasted space, distracting textures and so on, the fundamental thing people
have against skeuomorphism itself is that it's a put-on, a kind of play-
acting. But so is the self-consciously retro and "themed" style which has now
been applied to the home screen. I really _like_ the icons, on the whole,
though the new default background is too much. But they're too much of a
novelty for me to want them at the centre of my life and work - which is where
they will be for iPhone users - for (say) ten years. Not that anyone is even
contemplating leaving them on the home screen for even four years, of course.
But that's just the thing: they may (or may not, flame away) be _good_ design,
but they're unequivocally not _timeless_ design. Or really minimal, self-
effacing design.

------
fieldforceapp
What percentage of these 'complaints' are just anxieties being surfaced? I for
one am completely intimidated by the new iOS7 design paradigm: kerning?
ligatures? color as a call-to-action? Rounded-rectangle buttons dying an
untimely death? Man am I in trouble...

(I can almost hear Sir Jony hisself saying, 'keep calm, and carry on')

Just signed up for HackDesign and hope to hell they have an iOS7 focused
segment soon!!

[http://hackdesign.org](http://hackdesign.org)

------
Domenic_S
> _The thing is, we’ve grown up. We don’t require hand-holding to tell us what
> to click or tap. [...] iOS 7 foregoes borders, instead relying on colour to
> indicate interactivity_

Relying on color to indicate interactivity... like we've done on the web
forever? That's been a best practice since I-don't-know-when.

I disagree with the "we've grown up" idea. I'm not sure there's a Platonic
ideal for UI/X, but clearly we're moving away from the idea (created by whom?)
that a touchscreen phone needs to harken back to its button-clad counterparts.
Think about it, we've made calls, drawn pictures, posted Facebook updates, &
sent emails with our computers for ages, why is the phone interface so
different?

The new design is a function of current style combined with a smidgen of
better understanding about HCI. Everyone and their grandma was putting plastic
shines on their buttons in 2008, now everyone is going "flat".

~~~
Afforess
> _Relying on color to indicate interactivity...That 's been a best practice
> since I-don't-know-when._

I guess screw color-blind people then.

~~~
daughart
Colorblind people can tell the difference between color and black, which is
how color is used to indicate interactivity in iOS7.

------
6d0debc071
To my mind this really comes down to the question of whether people who want a
flat UI already have an Android or Windows Phone.

If they have, then I don't see them changing device. What would they do so
for? The iphone's worst feature for a while now has been its handset - so
they'd pay a penalty in accepting the device and unless the UI has a major
advantage I don't see why they would.

(

I don't know how many of you get the Samsung adverts from Europe and the like
but the iphone gets actively mocked as a fairly out of date dumb device:

[http://youtu.be/mLd9hjl3Kds](http://youtu.be/mLd9hjl3Kds)

And in use figures it's not doing well outside of the U.S.

)

Meanwhile it would alienate all the people who _didn 't_ want a flat UI.

If people who wants a flat UI have already gone elsewhere I don't see how
Apple can do anything but make a loss on this change.

------
craigching
I'm not sure what I think of the visual aesthetics yet, some of the icons are
really bad (e.g. Safari), but I don't know if I'm ready to say I don't like it
yet in general. I do actually like the glossy look of the iOS 6 and less
icons.

One thing I'm concerned about, though, is usability. Getting rid of all the
bevels off of buttons and making them not look quite so interactive ... my two
year old son knows how to get around already and I wonder how much of that is
because things _look_ interactive on the iOS 6 UI. I might have to install the
7 beta and see what he thinks.

He knows how to unlock my wife's phone (I have a password on mine) and can get
to any app he finds interesting. I suppose the only thing he'll need to
overcome is unlocking the phone and then he'll be back where he started.

------
illicium
_> In the field of user experience, there’s a huge and unhelpful overemphasis
on similarity, familiarity, and the ability to formally reason about
interfaces. People are more nuanced. We respond based not only on experience
or reason, but also on emotion and intuition._

So, it's okay to sacrifice similarity and familiarity because you can force
people to understand a UI through emotion and intuition? Without familiar
cues, a user will have to blindly poke around the interface until they
understand it, and then rely on that experience to use it in the future.

There's nothing wrong with a visual overhaul (even if it does make the system
look like a cheap Android reskin), but it's not right to throw users off the
deep end of the pool because they are used to interactive elements that
look... interactive.

------
72deluxe
"Gone are embellishments like gloss and bevelled edges, shadows and borders.
Visually dead areas that provoke tension rather than inspiring relaxation.
Weight that suffocates, rather than open air to breathe."

Interesting review but silly comments like this are, well, silly! When I see
an area of a screen or GUI, I do not feel tension if there is a "visually
dead" area. Does anyone else? How come nobody complained about iOS4 and 5 and
6 in the GUI department? Suddenly they are being seen as old and rubbish, and
tension-inducing.

Daft writing is sadly colouring an objective review. Having said that, iOS7
does look brighter but some areas look difficult to read. The lack of
indication when items are buttons or controls is frustrating, as experienced
on Windows 8, aka. Visit To Flatland

~~~
ianstormtaylor
People have been complaining about skeumorphism and generally outdated looks
in the GUI department for iOS 6 for ages, where have you been?

The author's comments aren't "silly", they're just an example of an expert
talking about his field. Novice programmers don't feel "grimy" when they look
at code that should clearly be refactored, but that doesn't mean that
programmers who talk about ugly code are "silly" either. If you haven't
studied design to a certain extent you probably won't ever be aware of tension
in an interface unless it's extremely evident. That does not mean it's not
there.

------
mactitan
WOW. my first real look of the new design.(since most of the experts here are
pro iOS 7 I would think it would be a dismal failure - if huge user base
didn't exist) Don't get me wrong- i kindof like iOS7 better but if I saw both
for 1st time i would guess os7 would have been 1st gen. Reminds me of lo
bandwidth dialup days when I couldnt stand when graphics got in way of pure
text. Apple must have consumer groups like ford, kellog,etc.. who give their 2
cents. No comments on what steve jobs would handle this (would he actually
like the aesthetics - I guess it's the jobless era commencing. MS must be
happy.

------
sp332
I think the point about color is wrong. I like this article in general, but
that section misses the point. Color is used to highlight important
information, but it doesn't act as a divider between items in a list. The list
is divided according to a perfectly-executed typographic hierarchy that lets
the eye group lines together in space.
[https://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/12...](https://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/12435/riiiwqlvlq8l.png)
No color needed.

------
hosh
It's not that flat design is a "grown up design". It's that we're establishing
a pattern of design fashion, much like the cycle of clothing fashion. We'll
come back to skeumorphism eventually.

------
Bogdanp
I've been using the developer preview version for a couple of days now and I
have to say that the experience is pretty nice, except for the fact that the
home screen is unusable if you have a light background (white labels on white
background, YAY). My main issue with it is how choppy it gets every now and
then (I'm running it on an iPhone 4S) but they'll probably fix that by the
final release. I've uploaded some screenshots to [1].

1: [http://min.us/mjEw1CkvEbR80](http://min.us/mjEw1CkvEbR80)

------
etler
I don't think there are many people that disagree with the points this guy has
brought up. But he doesn't really bring up the things that people actually are
complaining about. There are many aspects of the UI that are very garish and
not very polished. Sure, the UX might be great but people notice the UI first,
and that's where much of the backlash is coming from. I think it's compounded
by Apple's history of having their initial UI unveilings showing a much more
polished look than they have with iOS7.

------
mgerals
Finally, an author is doing a deeper analysis than complaining about the icon-
set or font weight.

We'll see how this pans out but maybe this is that "the iPad is just a big
iPod Touch" thing all over.

------
hawkw
I for one think the icon design (especially Safari) looks great.

~~~
daughart
I can't tell if you're trying to troll or not, but I, too, think that the new
icons are at least as good as, if not better than, the old ones.

The old Safari icon reminded me of the Netscape Navigator 2.0 splash screen.

------
soemarko
I think part of iOS 7 task is to create buzz. And it's doing it successfully
(with hundreds of votes and comments on this and Marco Arment's thread). The
last few iOS iteration, for lack of a better word, has been boring.

At this point, iOS is walking on the similar path to Windows Phone 7. Looking
back at WP7, it did generate a lot of buzz, it rallies a lot of MS fan out to
become the product's evangelist.

Time will tell whether iOS 7 will sell. I bet it will.

------
ohwp
The discussion about style is useless because everybody is different and has a
different taste.

The only thing that matters is usability. And that's where iOS7 fails. Some
examples:

    
    
      On the home screen "Reminders" is barely readable.
      Receiving a phone call: You can't read the name.
      Messages: white text on a light background: bad for reading.
      The weather: barely readable.

------
habitue
I think it's getting very hard for bloggers to credit Apple with "genius" for
making this interface change. It's a solidly done refresh of an aging UI
theme, which everyone has to do from time to time because UI themes are
fashion, and fashion changes. A good move on Apple's part, but it's not
indicative of any particular genius.

------
vacri
I don't understand why one 'answer call' screen (the one with the woman) does
not have a 'decline' option, and the other (with the man) does have 'decline'.
How do you decline a call for the first caller? What's the difference between
these two kinds of call?

~~~
r00fus
If you're talking about the collage with Bridget and Max then:

Bridget is from the lockscreen (if you look closely the green button says
slide to answer), and is a Phone call.

Max is a FaceTime, and is likely when the phone is unlocked. There's already a
UI difference in iOS6 for these use cases.

~~~
vacri
Thanks. Though it seems odd that the 'remind me later' \- essentially the
'decline' \- isn't particularly notable on the phone call screen. The typical
scenario of being in a meeting and needing to decline a call is less
facilitated by the second design than by the first, as it's not obvious where
to perform the action.

------
gfodor
Complaining about icons is a bike shed. Commenting on screenshots and not
actually using the OS is transparently dumb. iOS 7 is "Tufte Strikes Back",
it's the death of the chartjunk of iOS6. I'd imagine in 5 years we will swing
back a bit but for now the next gold rush is on.

------
2mia
You got to love this formula pattern. It implies so clearly that you are
stupid and not mature if you feel otherwise. Is there a name for this
psychological method?

"iOS 7 is an iOS for a more mature consumer, who understands that ... "

------
anuraj
While I loved the general feel of iOS 7, there is too much white on the screen
- which makes me increase contrast - and few parts feel less thought out and
rough at edges - So overall a welcome change, but needs further work.

------
stdclass
I really like the new designs, but since apple is all about "responsiveness"
\- they should REALLY reconsider the animation-durations of the different
effects. It really slows you down in your usage.

------
msoad
New design is nice. What makes me wonder is that Apple used all their resource
for past 6 months for this graphical redesign and no new future came out of
iOS teams. That seems inefficient.

------
m3mnoch
no. it's not flat. it's not beveled and skeuomorphic. it's splits the middle.
that's always bad -- as our friend yoda says, "do, or do not."

ios 7 basically says "i can't decide what i want. i don't want to be all
textured and stuff because flat is cool! but, i also don't want to go
straight-up flat because then i lose all the affordance like metro did. hrm...
i know! let's do a little of each!"

no, indeed. this will end poorly for apple.

m3mnoch.

------
anigbrowl
Reminds me a bit of Windows Phone (which I don't own, I'm just going by the
visual aesthetic I've absorbed form ads etc.).

------
namank
This was inevitable.

What bothers me is the disconnect between the icons for Safari, Settings, and
Compass. They don't mesh with each other.

------
Gepsens
So basically they admit that Google has better designers ? Not surprised
really. What's next, iGlasses ?

------
lifeisstillgood
Is it just me, or do I just fail to get the phone calls and texts and skypes
from beautiful sun-kissed models with perfect spelling and fun filled lives?

No matter what the design looks like, a message from your boss looks like a
message from your boss.

Its looks nice, can I get a better signal now.

------
ianstallings
If our UIs get anymore modern we're not going to have any UI left.

------
grendelt
I'm just happy to see the Maps icon is getting fixed.

------
czhiddy
When did HN become such a cesspool of snarky low-quality comments?

Every time I see a Glass/iPhone/WindowsPhone/etc article nowadays, I prepare
myself for a deluge of shitty YouTube-caliber posts.

Embarrassing.

~~~
Afforess
Pot, meet kettle.

------
jolohaga
Most of these comments are silly including mine.

------
paulocal
the icons in that mockup are so much better.

------
drivebyacct2
So now that Apple has moved on it's acceptable to call the old UI dated and
ugly. Cool, glad we can be honest about it now.

~~~
bane
and it seems like just a few months ago people were quickly rebutting this
simple fact.

Of course we went from old and tired, to ugly and nearly unusable so...

------
dakimov
"Content first, essence, clarity, bla bla bla..."

There is such a thing as AESTHETICS that everyone of those rationally-
thinking-wannabe designers forget about.

People do not wear the same gray robes and do not live in an apartment with
bare concrete walls.

To feel comfortable a human needs some visual complexity, this is a part of
aesthetics.

Too much complexity is bad taste, too little is lifeless and primitive.

Also, people tend to have different taste.

Actually, the worst thing for me about iOS 7 design was that unexpectedly I
perceived it as made with bad taste. It could be flat, focused, minimal,
stylish — that would be fine, such type of design is not for everyone, but
would be fine with me.

But the worst thing happened — bad taste. The problem with the design is that
it is offensively and illogically colorful, and geometrically disproportional.
It is not stylish, and it is not minimal.

I am appalled. And what is with the trash can Mac Pro design. Does Johny Ive
really have bad taste?

~~~
rdouble
_People do not wear the same gray robes and do not live in an apartment with
bare concrete walls._

When I lived in the bay area I'd say 50% of my co workers lived in apartments
with bare walls and wore the same outfit everyday.

------
Flying_Dwarf
That last sentence is so bigoted. If you don't like flat then you're a child?
Right.

I don't care about this whole debate, as I like flat and non-flat, and I
actually prefer a happy medium.

What I wonder is if OS X is going to adopt iOS 7's new look in the upcoming
years.

