and so the ugly Safari icon changed into a beautiful swan ...
It seems obvious that the OS is unfinished when you consider that the sharing icon (of all things, the very IMPORTANT used many times a day sharing icon), is completely different looking depending on which part of the OS you are in. That's just ridiculously wrong. It violates every rule of good UI design as well as design in general.
Personally, after looking at it a lot, the only things I really hate now are the parts where they use some grating brilliant neon colour that you just can't get away from. Like if you use their calendar at all, you have to be okay with brilliant raw, RED highlights. WTF? I mean what if you just hate that colour? You have to find some other calendar to use? Why? The BLUE they use on iTunes is just as bad.
I don't get what they are thinking with that. At the very least there should be an option to tone them down, or just use a generic grey highlight or something.
This is the way OS X has been for ages. They don't usually give colour/theme configuration options to end users (and for good reason), but they always include a default "greyed down" choice for those that don't want glaring raw jazzy colours in their face all day long.
Someone on MacRumors posted a pic of a translucent home screen doc. I think it was a screen shot from a dev session. It's possible we might see that in beta 2.
I hate to keep going back to the well, but if Steve Jobs had one thing going for him it was his being a major stickler about the tiniest of details, even down to the icon level. Steve had a point of view. Jony Ive has a point of view and philosophy that applies to industrial design and his ideas on usability that must be translated into the graphics side. There might be time, but graphic design for Ive is like learning a new language in a very short amount of time. It's not possible to become fluent compared to someone who has been doing the job for 20 or 30 years. It would be fair if Ive gave the final sign-off (remember Jobs' only art training involved typography), but primarily relied on a very experienced UI and/or icon designer to do the necessary groundwork.
I hate to keep going back to the well, but if Steve Jobs had one thing going for him it was his being a major stickler about the tiniest of details, even down to the icon level. Steve had a point of view. Jony Ive has a point of view and a philosophy on design that applies to industrial design and usability that must be translated into the graphics side. There might be time, but graphic design for Ive is like learning a new language in a very short amount of time. It's not possible to become fluent compared to someone who has been doing the job for 20 or 30 years. It would be fair if Ive gave the final sign-off, but primarily relied on a very experienced UI and/or icon designer to lay down the groundwork.
People seem to be forgetting about some of the great new functionality that's finally coming to iOS. One I just found out about today is Notification center providing traffic information based on places you frequent. Federighi seemed like he was rushing a bit during the demo so I'll bet there's a lot of cool features (especially for 3rd party developers) that he didn't get a chance to show off. These UI problems are fixable. Even if they don't all get fixed during the betas nothing is stopping Apple from doing point releases for updates. Google updates Android apps more than once a year, why can't Apple?
Biggest problem is that new icons look like from very very cheap Chinese copy of some Android phone (the icons are seriously ugly).
Another thing is that new GUI is quite bright and option to choose the Theme between "Bright" and "Dark" would be nice to have ("Dark" would look better on black iPhones).
Actually, I find myself liking the new app icons... except for Safari. That one is just inexcusable.
Anyway, I quote you because I'm really hoping for a 'dark' theme to go on the black iPhone... though I don't expect it to really happen.
Lock screen is beautiful. The thin Helvitca font variant works well here. The entire screen slides. A larger target is always good.
Password lock screen is elegant. It's grown on me.
Notifications panel looks great. But "all" doesn't really show all (doesn't show "Today.") That's a little odd.
Control centre works fine and looks alright. Though it took a split-second of guessing what a couple of things do. If it takes *me* any time at all, new users will take longer.
Parallax scrolling is sorta nifty.
Safari functionality is great. Design is wonky. The targets are words. Or arrows? Or words? Thin blue font on a white background. Looks oddly out of place and the thin font all-round is infuriating. It all looks too "texty", with ill-defined, poorly contrasted targets.
Some icons are wireframe spectres. Others are coloured. Some wireframe icons are found as targets in menus. Some are coloured. Others are not. At any rate, these icons need work.
Folder backgrounds look ridiculous on the icon grid. Very jarring. Should at least be same colour on grid as when zoomed.
A lot of Android elements look like crap. They've been imported into iOS for some reason.
In terms of functionality, I see some nice improvements. But with only a few exceptions, the OS needs an aesthetic do-over.
This is nothing new. Watch the 2007 iPhone introduction (the 720p version) and then... oh, right, most people don't have an iPhone OS 1-capable device, do they... Anyway, you can see some big changes from the demo version and what shipped. That was six months, and this gap will be four, so it's quite possible that iOS 7 will look markedly different from beta 1.
I really haven't done much with iOS 7 because my old eyes and fat fingers don't work very well on a small phone -- I'm waiting for the iPad release. But, what I've seen so far works okay -- about average for the first beta. You can mitigate much of the UI issues by setting a darker home screen and a larger font size.
On the other hand, OS X Mavericks rocks…. All the resource saving components mentioned in the demo really make my iMac 27 seem like a new machine. It it seems rock solid, too!
I've been playing with Apple Maps 3-D Flyover full-screen on the desktop, and comparing it to New (beta) Google Maps/Earth. No contest!
People seem to be forgetting about some of the great new functionality that's finally coming to iOS. One I just found out about today is Notification center providing traffic information based on places you frequent. Federighi seemed like he was rushing a bit during the demo so I'll bet there's a lot of cool features (especially for 3rd party developers) that he didn't get a chance to show off. These UI problems are fixable. Even if they don't all get fixed during the betas nothing is stopping Apple from doing point releases for updates. Google updates Android apps more than once a year, why can't Apple?
The new functionality is fine and a welcome update. Remember, Jobs insisted things be designed, redesigned and re-redesigned before ever being shown to the public. He rarely allowed anything shown until it was ready. I think they should've done the same thing here.
I wouldn't mind them toning down the crayola colours a bit
I dont mind that so much. I just want better icons for Game Center, Safari and Settings. Those three are fugly. Give us back the old share sheet icon so the grannies that won't figure out what they are looking for.
The new functionality is fine and a welcome update. Remember, Jobs insisted things be designed, redesigned and re-redesigned before ever being shown to the public. He rarely allowed anything shown until it was ready. I think they should've done the same thing here.
Yep and then they would have waited another year and people would have complained that the UI looks the same, and Apple can't innovate, is doomed, etc.
I think we need to reserve judgement until closer to release. If we get a final beta that looks exactly like this then yeah I will grudgingly agree they should have waited until it was more finished,
I dont mind that so much. I just want better icons for Game Center, Safari and Settings. Those three are fugly. Give us back the old share sheet icon so the grannies that won't figure out what they are looking for.
Considering some of the inconsistencies in app icons perhaps some of them are placeholders. Or Apple is already working on redesigns. I've got to believe feedback is getting up to Federighi and Ive. There's no way Apple is oblivious to the dislike of the app icons. This article is proof of that.
I hope this bodes well for better-looking icons. Many seem like mock-ups rather than finished. I guess they need less regression testing, so can change later - while fundamental navigation metaphors (hierarchy in layers and the 'rule book') are much less likely to change much from now to release - and through future releases.
In my years of using OSX, there has been significant evolution of icon and widget look & feel but (thankfully) less change in the fundamental structure. Hopefully this will allow them to evolve the superficial L&F over time based on the structure.
This will also allow the OS to reflect the evolving design language of the hardware.
I posted on Facebook how it pisses me off people's comments on the design but great point here which I did not consider - iOS 7 is in beta so things can be changed. The feedback from bitching designers can be considered but the objective to simplify and purify the OS is completely necessary. Icons are easy to change.
Someone said that white text against light backgrounds will be tough on eyes especially with thin font which I like. Without drop shadow then text could blend. This was one of the main things I thought of.
One recommendation I think Apple should consider is for their apps or even the OS they should give us a few options in the OS to choose color palettes for the font so that we the users have some sense of customization of the OS. I know this would be an incredibly powerful incentive for some people without sacrificing the new ways of navigating the OS. Basically, they provide us options for skins on our apps.
Ive needs to poll pundits and industry analysts, and get 100% quorum before iOS 7 is released. He also needs not a single soul not to hate the new Safari icon; he heard one dude in south Nebraska doesn't care for it as it "looks like a bison's ass after it's been bit by a dirigible," and is flying out there to speak with him.
Ive cares very much about what armchair analysts and basement graphic designers with a Wordpress account think. He wants to impress them mostly.
This Lineup shot really shows the across-the-board inconsistency, and poor quality, of the iOS 7 system design. I remain stunned that they actually published this work. I'm glad they are walking back the design 'finality' of what they showcased. But being that UI is the primary headline feature of this release it indicates to me that they are severely behind schedule. I am worried, and I urge them not to release iOS 7 until it's ready.
Comments
and so the ugly Safari icon changed into a beautiful swan ...
It seems obvious that the OS is unfinished when you consider that the sharing icon (of all things, the very IMPORTANT used many times a day sharing icon), is completely different looking depending on which part of the OS you are in. That's just ridiculously wrong. It violates every rule of good UI design as well as design in general.
Personally, after looking at it a lot, the only things I really hate now are the parts where they use some grating brilliant neon colour that you just can't get away from. Like if you use their calendar at all, you have to be okay with brilliant raw, RED highlights. WTF? I mean what if you just hate that colour? You have to find some other calendar to use? Why? The BLUE they use on iTunes is just as bad.
I don't get what they are thinking with that. At the very least there should be an option to tone them down, or just use a generic grey highlight or something.
This is the way OS X has been for ages. They don't usually give colour/theme configuration options to end users (and for good reason), but they always include a default "greyed down" choice for those that don't want glaring raw jazzy colours in their face all day long.
I hate to keep going back to the well, but if Steve Jobs had one thing going for him it was his being a major stickler about the tiniest of details, even down to the icon level. Steve had a point of view. Jony Ive has a point of view and philosophy that applies to industrial design and his ideas on usability that must be translated into the graphics side. There might be time, but graphic design for Ive is like learning a new language in a very short amount of time. It's not possible to become fluent compared to someone who has been doing the job for 20 or 30 years. It would be fair if Ive gave the final sign-off (remember Jobs' only art training involved typography), but primarily relied on a very experienced UI and/or icon designer to do the necessary groundwork.
Quote:
Originally Posted by krabicka3
Biggest problem is that new icons look like from very very cheap Chinese copy of some Android phone (the icons are seriously ugly).
Another thing is that new GUI is quite bright and option to choose the Theme between "Bright" and "Dark" would be nice to have ("Dark" would look better on black iPhones).
Actually, I find myself liking the new app icons... except for Safari. That one is just inexcusable.
Anyway, I quote you because I'm really hoping for a 'dark' theme to go on the black iPhone... though I don't expect it to really happen.
Impressions after a day of use:
Lock screen is beautiful. The thin Helvitca font variant works well here. The entire screen slides. A larger target is always good.
Password lock screen is elegant. It's grown on me.
Notifications panel looks great. But "all" doesn't really show all (doesn't show "Today.") That's a little odd.
Control centre works fine and looks alright. Though it took a split-second of guessing what a couple of things do. If it takes *me* any time at all, new users will take longer.
Parallax scrolling is sorta nifty.
Safari functionality is great. Design is wonky. The targets are words. Or arrows? Or words? Thin blue font on a white background. Looks oddly out of place and the thin font all-round is infuriating. It all looks too "texty", with ill-defined, poorly contrasted targets.
Some icons are wireframe spectres. Others are coloured. Some wireframe icons are found as targets in menus. Some are coloured. Others are not. At any rate, these icons need work.
Folder backgrounds look ridiculous on the icon grid. Very jarring. Should at least be same colour on grid as when zoomed.
A lot of Android elements look like crap. They've been imported into iOS for some reason.
In terms of functionality, I see some nice improvements. But with only a few exceptions, the OS needs an aesthetic do-over.
Nope.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Google updates Android apps more than once a year, why can't Apple?
Blasphemy.
On the other hand, OS X Mavericks rocks…. All the resource saving components mentioned in the demo really make my iMac 27 seem like a new machine. It it seems rock solid, too!
I've been playing with Apple Maps 3-D Flyover full-screen on the desktop, and comparing it to New (beta) Google Maps/Earth. No contest!
I'm Jazzed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
People seem to be forgetting about some of the great new functionality that's finally coming to iOS. One I just found out about today is Notification center providing traffic information based on places you frequent. Federighi seemed like he was rushing a bit during the demo so I'll bet there's a lot of cool features (especially for 3rd party developers) that he didn't get a chance to show off. These UI problems are fixable. Even if they don't all get fixed during the betas nothing is stopping Apple from doing point releases for updates. Google updates Android apps more than once a year, why can't Apple?
The new functionality is fine and a welcome update. Remember, Jobs insisted things be designed, redesigned and re-redesigned before ever being shown to the public. He rarely allowed anything shown until it was ready. I think they should've done the same thing here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanadaV2
I wouldn't mind them toning down the crayola colours a bit
I dont mind that so much. I just want better icons for Game Center, Safari and Settings. Those three are fugly. Give us back the old share sheet icon so the grannies that won't figure out what they are looking for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostface147
Yeah there are some crazy things going on. For example, mail has the darker blue at the top, but the app store has it at the bottom.
i would rather they kill the gradients all together
I think we need to reserve judgement until closer to release. If we get a final beta that looks exactly like this then yeah I will grudgingly agree they should have waited until it was more finished,
In my years of using OSX, there has been significant evolution of icon and widget look & feel but (thankfully) less change in the fundamental structure. Hopefully this will allow them to evolve the superficial L&F over time based on the structure.
This will also allow the OS to reflect the evolving design language of the hardware.
Someone said that white text against light backgrounds will be tough on eyes especially with thin font which I like. Without drop shadow then text could blend. This was one of the main things I thought of.
One recommendation I think Apple should consider is for their apps or even the OS they should give us a few options in the OS to choose color palettes for the font so that we the users have some sense of customization of the OS. I know this would be an incredibly powerful incentive for some people without sacrificing the new ways of navigating the OS. Basically, they provide us options for skins on our apps.
And the purple tones, the icons... So kiddie
Ive cares very much about what armchair analysts and basement graphic designers with a Wordpress account think. He wants to impress them mostly.
This Lineup shot really shows the across-the-board inconsistency, and poor quality, of the iOS 7 system design. I remain stunned that they actually published this work. I'm glad they are walking back the design 'finality' of what they showcased. But being that UI is the primary headline feature of this release it indicates to me that they are severely behind schedule. I am worried, and I urge them not to release iOS 7 until it's ready.