Apple provides new iOS design resources compatible with Photoshop and Sketch

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in General Discussion
Apple on Thursday updated the iOS Human Interface Guidelines on its Developer site to include downloadable graphical templates that help app producers understand and create software using the iOS design language.




The new UI design resources are meant to help speed up the app creation and design process while also maintaining the look and feel typical of iOS apps. According to Apple, the resources are "comprehensive and accurately depict the full range of UIKit controls, views, and glyphs available to developers using the iOS SDK."

The resources include icon and glyph production files preconfigured to "automate asset production" using Sketch slices or Adobe Generator for Photoshop CC. Two downloads are available for Photoshop and Sketch, weighing in at 133.3 megabytes and 7.1 megabytes respectively.

Within the package is an installer for the San Francisco font used throughout iOS and other Apple platforms, color swatch files, and guides for dynamic type and text styles. Templates include app screens with standard navigation controls, an iMessage template for designing sticker packs, app and iMessage icons, and glyphs for menus. A collection of UI elements are intended for use with the app templates and can be used to quickly create an app's screen layout.

Apple has also introduced four videos, providing developers with an overview of what is in the new resources package, as well as three guides covering the usage of icons and glyph templates, and how to create app design composites.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    edited January 2017 tallest skilfrantisekargonaut
  • Reply 2 of 18
    bcodebcode Posts: 141member
    About f*cking time!
  • Reply 3 of 18
    damn_its_hotdamn_its_hot Posts: 1,209member
    dysamoria said:
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    They do - in both the HI Guidelines and sample code ( e.g., controls).
    edited January 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 18
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    dysamoria said:
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    Yeah, we have those. Apple is one of the company who provides comprehensive guide for the UI elements for us developers. This is just an updated version that include downloadable templates, the templates are helpful but not exactly a necessity.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    damn_its_hotdamn_its_hot Posts: 1,209member
    bcode said:
    About f*cking time!
    WTF !?
    You and @dysamoria both need to look at the rsrcs that are available to developers. This does not require any payment unless u decide 2 distribute apps via the App Store or Mac App Store. They could have published the HI changes sooner but I for 1 respect them waiting a while to see how they were accepted. 
    edited January 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 18
    yojimbo007yojimbo007 Posts: 1,165member
    Bring on a native user managable file sys.... Lack of it Its handicapping ios for productive work ....
  • Reply 7 of 18
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    yojimbo007 said:
    Bring on a native user managable file sys.... Lack of it Its handicapping ios for productive work ....
    iCloud drive.
    applepieguywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 18
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    I understand the need for guidelines.
    But I've always wondered how app developers balance between originality and adhering to standards.
    When so many of the UI elements are provided by Apple, an app that follows their guidelines will often look generic. 
    But if you deviate, your app stands out.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,284member
    dysamoria said:
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    If you need more than what Apple provides, try design school.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 18
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    satchmo said:
    I understand the need for guidelines.
    But I've always wondered how app developers balance between originality and adhering to standards.
    When so many of the UI elements are provided by Apple, an app that follows their guidelines will often look generic. 
    But if you deviate, your app stands out.
    Currently, most of the deviation is a worse variation on Apple's low contrast, flat, detail-less, minimalist amateurism. Not much help standing out from the pack.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    mike1 said:
    dysamoria said:
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    If you need more than what Apple provides, try design school.
    These responses have been hilarious. It's as if people think I'm ignorant of or actually happy about Apple's current guidelines, as if those guidelines are great, and as if they're in line with design schools and professional UX/GUI designers.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=designers+hate+ios+7&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us

    This may seem humorously outdated, but the real GUI knowledge was abundant at Apple around the decades that this book was important: https://www.amazon.com/Macintosh-Human-Interface-Guidelines-Computer/dp/0201622165

    Today... well, now we have the extreme aesthetic preferences of one obsessive, obscenely wealthy, white male deciding what's best for everyone else... He put the marketing department to work on the iOS 7 redesign, FFS.

    http://angryartboy.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-fall-of-designer-fad-of-laziness.html?m=1
  • Reply 12 of 18
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    damn_its_hot said:
    They do - in both the HI Guidelines and sample code ( e.g., controls).
    Don’t they violate their own guidelines in several places?
  • Reply 13 of 18
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    tallest skil said:
    damn_its_hot said:
    They do - in both the HI Guidelines and sample code ( e.g., controls).
    Don’t they violate their own guidelines in several places?

    Why are you posting so little now-a-days?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 18
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    bestkeptsecret said:
    Why are you posting so little now-a-days?
    Personal reasons; not a lot of time anymore. It’s probably for the best; I was way too much of an Apple zealot back in the day, but now my love affair with the company (and ability to afford its products) is waning. Fifty smackers for an iPhone dock (while one came free with the original) that doesn’t even have BACK support? After years I finally got to an Apple Store to try one out in person, and they just feel… loose. cheap. unstable. I’m worried that the Lightning port will just snap off… Maybe that’s just because they’re the display models and they’re manhandled all day…

    Anyway, thanks for the interest. Sort of withdrawn IRL as of late, even.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    They do - in both the HI Guidelines and sample code ( e.g., controls).
    Don’t they violate their own guidelines in several places?
    Yes they do. That's why they're called 'guidelines' and not 'laws'. It's better to ignore the guideline if doesn't suit what you're trying to do in a way that benefits the user. 
    edited January 2017 argonautStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 18
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Why are you posting so little now-a-days?
    Personal reasons; not a lot of time anymore. It’s probably for the best; I was way too much of an Apple zealot back in the day, but now my love affair with the company (and ability to afford its products) is waning. Fifty smackers for an iPhone dock (while one came free with the original) that doesn’t even have BACK support? After years I finally got to an Apple Store to try one out in person, and they just feel… loose. cheap. unstable. I’m worried that the Lightning port will just snap off… Maybe that’s just because they’re the display models and they’re manhandled all day…

    Anyway, thanks for the interest. Sort of withdrawn IRL as of late, even.
    This is very interesting and precisely what I've been banging in about for the past few weeks. Often it is not the case that Apple is doing something different, rather that their older customers circumstances change or they cannot to adapt to changes in Apple's core market. 

    Case in point: Apple has always made pricey kit; what has changed is your ability or willingness to pay for it. What most people here tend to miss is that this does not apply to the new people entering Apple's core market. 

    But good luck on your next platform. :-)

    edited January 2017 StrangeDays
  • Reply 17 of 18
    frantisekfrantisek Posts: 756member
    kevin kee said:
    yojimbo007 said:
    Bring on a native user managable file sys.... Lack of it Its handicapping ios for productive work ....
    iCloud drive.
    I am sure Kevin was not talking about space limited cloud working only when you are online but ability to store and manage files on phone. And I do not know many Apps that can handle files from iCloud Drive, for example to load photos from there instead from Photos. Or any other file that is not normally supported.
    edited January 2017
  • Reply 18 of 18
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    dysamoria said:
    mike1 said:
    dysamoria said:
    If only Apple guided developers on, and demonstrated, better design standards, such as readability (contrast and color usage), comfort, clear distinction between objects, meaningful graphics, large enough touch zones, self-evident controls that actually look like controls... 
    If you need more than what Apple provides, try design school.
    These responses have been hilarious. It's as if people think I'm ignorant of or actually happy about Apple's current guidelines, as if those guidelines are great, and as if they're in line with design schools and professional UX/GUI designers.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=designers+hate+ios+7&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us

    This may seem humorously outdated, but the real GUI knowledge was abundant at Apple around the decades that this book was important: https://www.amazon.com/Macintosh-Human-Interface-Guidelines-Computer/dp/0201622165

    Today... well, now we have the extreme aesthetic preferences of one obsessive, obscenely wealthy, white male deciding what's best for everyone else... He put the marketing department to work on the iOS 7 redesign, FFS.

    http://angryartboy.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-fall-of-designer-fad-of-laziness.html?m=1
    If you're suggesting Ive is the driving designer behind iOS I believe you're mistaken. We're in iOS 10 and there is an entire human interface team. 
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