
Daring Fireball: 'This Is Our Signature': iOS 7 - gr366
http://daringfireball.net/2013/06/ios_7_signature
======
collypops
I may be looking too much into it, but I'll post my thoughts anyway for the
sake of discussion...

"There is a deep intellectual rigor to the design of iOS 7"

...sounds like he's validating his own intelligence by noticing how
intelligent the design is. Only time can validate great design, and it's very
early days.

It's almost like this article is preparing us for the inevitable(?) "I told
you so" moment that we also faced with the iPad in 2012. I'm just as sure this
time that we misunderstand iOS 7 in the same way we misunderstood the iPad.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
> ..sounds like he's validating his own intelligence by noticing how
> intelligent the design is. Only time can validate great design, and it's
> very early days.

Sounds like you are just grinding an ax because use of the word "intellectual"
to you seems way too egotistical?

Well, they could have validated the design via lots of user testing; they
could have done A/B testing on multiple great designs (not just the chosen
design and several crappy ones). There is a lot of work to design than just
the creative work.

~~~
collypops
Of course they could validate the product to the best of their ability through
user testing. I'm not disputing that. I'm sure they validated the iPhone 4's
exterior antenna before it launched too. There's just so much you can't
discover about a product until it's released into the wild.

I was wary of posting my comment because it comes off as ax grinding, which is
why I prefaced it the way I did. I'm genuinely interested to see if anyone
shares my opinion, or if I'm nuts. I can accept either outcome.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Fair enough. Writing is actually kind of hard, and we should have some leeway
in word choice and in forming our narratives without being constantly accused
of egoism.

My wife is a designer, and her job involves lots of rigor even if her role is
classified as creative (10% creativity, 90% perspiration!). I'm willing to
give a pass to anyone who says a professional design involved "deep
intellectual rigor" even if the design has yet to be evaluated by the
marketplace.

------
anondesign
Ugh. I am usually a DF fan, but this article is riddled with worthlessness:

"The design of iOS 7 is based on rules."

iOS 6's design certainly was not inferior due to lack of rules

"a Z-axis of layers organized in a logical way"

That's the basis of every UI.

[/rant]

Anyways, here is a summary of the article, for those not interested in digging
meaning out of it:

1\. Blurred transparent layers are cool and useful (Ubuntu has known this for
years now).

2\. Apple is finally making software whose elegance and design captures the
essence of their hardware design (yay!). You get that same "just works"
feeling (like sliding shut a heavy, mechanical dead bolt with no resistance).

[/summary]

Here's my review of Apple's iOS6 UI, if anyone is interested (note: I have
used and loved Apple products my entire life):

1\. Finally catching up to the flat UI trend. +1

2\. LINKS instead of navigation buttons? I'm not a fan, but okay, as long as
the "tappable" area is the same.

3\. LINK instead of [SEND] button in Messages? Why?

4\. Safari's icon is so ugly

5\. Mail's icon is so ugly. Wtf!

6\. The "Control Center" screenshot looks hideous on that backdrop, darken the
background of your modals!

7\. wtf@the default homescreen background! I don't even remember what that
trend is called.. bokeh? bokah? Hang on one sec, gotta take this, the early
2000s are calling.

8\. LOVE the look of the new bottom bars

9\. LOVE the switch to helvetica neue with a skinny font weight

10\. hate the < > buttons in safari, why are they so huge and freaky

11\. Mail looks awesome, as does Weather and Messages

12\. Weather needs a bit more contrast

13\. LOVE safari's new address bar

But overall good job apple, it's a huge step to take and looks like the first
iteration will go well.

[/review]

------
jwilliams
One thing I never understood with Aero -- which has been repeated here -- is
the frosted glass effect.

I don't see the purpose or how it's useful. You can't see what's behind it.
You don't even get an impression. So it's just squinty-visual noise.

~~~
j0ev
I disagree, it gives the gist of what is in the background. You can easily
tell if the layer is over the homescreen or Mail or Safari etc. I like the
blur effect because it makes it easier to read text than on just say a 80%
opaque layer (and I think it looks cool).

~~~
jwilliams
That's the thing - you can't see what's behind - take a look at the shot here:
[http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/](http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/)

If you look at control center - the flashlight glows green and the camera red.
Why? Because some arbitrary icon that you can't even make out is that color
behind it. I find that really odd.

Even if you could actually make out what's behind the layer, I don't see the
utility (and I'd argue it's even more distracting).

------
_pixie_
Are we really going to give Microsoft no credit for this 'flat' design style?

~~~
LaSombra
And what about the glassy aero inspiration?

------
ujeezy
"There’s a sense of place, depth, and spatiality in iOS 7 that makes it feel
like hardware. A real thing, not pixels rendered on glass."

The physicality of iOS 7 wasn't clear to me until I watched the video demo,
and it's very impressive: [http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-7-video-
jony-ive-20...](http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-7-video-jony-
ive-2013-6)

------
johnrob
Depth, in the form of stack-able windows, has been present in desktop OS
interfaces for decades. Is iOS gradually reinventing the wheel?

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kefs
If anyone is wondering why I flag DF posts, I do it because it's pure
opinion/editorial/fluff/blogspam that really has nothing to do with HN.

