Exactly, why make a big deal about it when almost no one will notice.
It is better. Sweating the details is what makes Apple DNA. The Helvetica Thin was just a little too thin and slightly incompatible the other styles they had incorporated into iOS 8. The opacity, blurs and varied backgrounds such as in the weather app made some text difficult to read. Just a small tweak but a welcome one in my opinion.
When I was a graphic designer there was an unspoken rule that no type gets set under 8 pts if you really expect anyone to read it.
I learned typography many years ago from some of the masters of Madison Ave. and the unspoken guideline was always 6 pt. not 8 pt, and a common output on Linotype 100 was 1200 dpi compared to 400+- on iPhone. That said there is type, even in Apple native apps, that is close to 4 pt. Way too small.
Toyota used to make their designers wear glasses smeared with vaseline to let them see if they could operate controls inside of Toyota vehicle mockups.
Maybe they shouldn't be driving if they can't see?
Even with good eyes at distance & reading distance, I have black control knobs with grey lettering and little indistinct marks that are virtually unreadable at night, particularly with oncoming headlights.
Well designed newer cars have backlighted knobs and buttons eliminating part of the problem.
LCD screens with thin or otherwise tough to read type can be a problem at night.
I learned typography many years ago from some of the masters of Madison Ave. and the unspoken guideline was always 6 pt. not 8 pt, and a common output on Linotype 100 was 1200 dpi compared to 400+- on iPhone. That said there is type, even in Apple native apps, that is close to 4 pt. Way too small.
Yes, the unspoken rule was 6pt (i.e. for legal copy at the bottom of the ad), but if you TRULY expected anyone to read something in the body of your ad, don't go smaller than 8pt. There is a significant amount of text in iOS apps, both native and third-party that is set at a relative point size less than 6pt. If fact, there are a few apps I stopped using because I got tired of straining my eyes to try to read the teeny tiny text that could not be made any bigger in the app or by the iOS preferences.
If you look at the letter 'o', 'c' and 'e', you can see Helvetica Neue has a very circular shape but in San Francisco, it is squashed horizontally. I liked the rounded one better but if you scale up a round shape and capitalize it, it uses up a lot more room than other letters. Look at the 'C' in iCloud Drive for example.
If you look at the word 'help' in the menu, Helvetica Neue makes an uneven spacing to the left and right of the 'l' but San Francisco is more even. Open the images by right-clicking and then open link in new window to see them unscaled.
They removed a trailing flourish off the letter 'a'.
Elongating the letters and improving the spacing makes it easier to read but I don't like the overall shape. I think the more rounded style of Helvetica Neue was more friendly. San Francisco looks more like a computer font to me. I don't suppose there was any way they could have maintained the roundness while expanding vertically.
Myriad Pro is another font Apple uses and is a nice one. There's a patch here to use that in OS X:
That maintains the roundness and even kerning without elongating letters to look odd. It might not look good on the Watch though and Microsoft has sort of taken on that style:
This change to San Francisco will all be to accommodate consistency with the Watch. That's a good idea to do that but I'd rather that San Francisco conveyed the same friendliness of Helvetica Neue and looked less like a computer font. Another example of a computer font would be Monaco:
This looks ok for programming code but I wouldn't say it was an attractive font, it's more functional. One thing I've always disliked is the square dots above the letter 'i'. Calligraphy pens can make square dots but normally pen ink produces a rounded dot, which looks less computer-like. Myriad has rounded dots. Actually, it looks like San Francisco has rounded dots too so that's a positive:
People that don't notice will continue to drink boxed wine like it was good.
Nah. There is nothing wrong with Helvetica Neue 37 Thin, it is a very elegant font, but perhaps a little like drinking fine wine with Cheerios and milk. It was just inappropriate for use with many of the backgrounds and color schemes used in iOS. San Francisco is a definite improvement in my opinion.
Cue the expected bitching and whining, even though there's no reason o believe this will be any worse than current. Not a single positive comment, a single person giving Apple the benefit of the doubt. I mean, not like they deserve that at least, right?
It is easy for young designers not to think of how older people with limited vision deal with difficult type faces.
Toyota used to make their designers wear glasses smeared with vaseline to let them see if they could operate controls inside of Toyota vehicle mockups.
If your vision is so bad that you can't read the instruments on your dash, you have no business behind the wheel to begin with.
Maybe they shouldn't be driving if they can't see?
If I don't wear glasses, I can clearly see everything outside the vehicle (car/truck/airplane) to the horizon. What I can't see as well are instruments and panel/cockpit controls, especially if they're all similar in appearance, shape, and local contrast to the panel.
There's a very wide range between "I can see it so everyone else can get stuffed" youth and "it's really time to give up driving" vision impairment.
Kidding aside it's a good move. Nue was a "look at me!" font, instead of a good font to look at. It looked dated from day one. The entirety of the iOS 7 redesign was about flash, whereas good design is almost invisible, you don't notice it until you come across bad design. Which again was iOS 7
That's just the bold version of San Francisco: it's a little heavier and wider than the standard letterforms. No good designer would ever use two very similar sans serif fonts together.
No good designer would have used Nue in the first place
Comments
Exactly, why make a big deal about it when almost no one will notice.
It is better. Sweating the details is what makes Apple DNA. The Helvetica Thin was just a little too thin and slightly incompatible the other styles they had incorporated into iOS 8. The opacity, blurs and varied backgrounds such as in the weather app made some text difficult to read. Just a small tweak but a welcome one in my opinion.
When I was a graphic designer there was an unspoken rule that no type gets set under 8 pts if you really expect anyone to read it.
I learned typography many years ago from some of the masters of Madison Ave. and the unspoken guideline was always 6 pt. not 8 pt, and a common output on Linotype 100 was 1200 dpi compared to 400+- on iPhone. That said there is type, even in Apple native apps, that is close to 4 pt. Way too small.
Toyota used to make their designers wear glasses smeared with vaseline to let them see if they could operate controls inside of Toyota vehicle mockups.
Maybe they shouldn't be driving if they can't see?
I can't tell the difference. What's the point?
From what I understand you change something because there's a noticeable difference.
Branding, and "Apple's own", so to speak.
Additionally, it ties together other iOS devices with the Watch UI font. It's for consistency's sake.
San Fran is a little thicker then Helvetica Neue. Not a bad thing. I'd say it's a better fit in terms of readability.
Even with good eyes at distance & reading distance, I have black control knobs with grey lettering and little indistinct marks that are virtually unreadable at night, particularly with oncoming headlights.
Well designed newer cars have backlighted knobs and buttons eliminating part of the problem.
LCD screens with thin or otherwise tough to read type can be a problem at night.
I learned typography many years ago from some of the masters of Madison Ave. and the unspoken guideline was always 6 pt. not 8 pt, and a common output on Linotype 100 was 1200 dpi compared to 400+- on iPhone. That said there is type, even in Apple native apps, that is close to 4 pt. Way too small.
Yes, the unspoken rule was 6pt (i.e. for legal copy at the bottom of the ad), but if you TRULY expected anyone to read something in the body of your ad, don't go smaller than 8pt. There is a significant amount of text in iOS apps, both native and third-party that is set at a relative point size less than 6pt. If fact, there are a few apps I stopped using because I got tired of straining my eyes to try to read the teeny tiny text that could not be made any bigger in the app or by the iOS preferences.
For Helvetia, or any other font they ever used to market their hardware and software
The letter shapes are similar with minor changes but there's differences in the kerning (letter spacing). Someone switched OS X over here:
Helvetica Neue:
San Francisco:
http://gizmodo.com/helvetica-is-the-worst-change-your-yosemite-font-to-sa-1668350413
If you look at the letter 'o', 'c' and 'e', you can see Helvetica Neue has a very circular shape but in San Francisco, it is squashed horizontally. I liked the rounded one better but if you scale up a round shape and capitalize it, it uses up a lot more room than other letters. Look at the 'C' in iCloud Drive for example.
If you look at the word 'help' in the menu, Helvetica Neue makes an uneven spacing to the left and right of the 'l' but San Francisco is more even. Open the images by right-clicking and then open link in new window to see them unscaled.
They removed a trailing flourish off the letter 'a'.
Elongating the letters and improving the spacing makes it easier to read but I don't like the overall shape. I think the more rounded style of Helvetica Neue was more friendly. San Francisco looks more like a computer font to me. I don't suppose there was any way they could have maintained the roundness while expanding vertically.
Myriad Pro is another font Apple uses and is a nice one. There's a patch here to use that in OS X:
https://github.com/seanmpuckett/Myriad-Pro-System-Font-for-Yosemite
That maintains the roundness and even kerning without elongating letters to look odd. It might not look good on the Watch though and Microsoft has sort of taken on that style:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/24/microsofts-new-logo-is-a-hop-skip-and-straightened-character-away-from-apples-typeface/
This change to San Francisco will all be to accommodate consistency with the Watch. That's a good idea to do that but I'd rather that San Francisco conveyed the same friendliness of Helvetica Neue and looked less like a computer font. Another example of a computer font would be Monaco:
This looks ok for programming code but I wouldn't say it was an attractive font, it's more functional. One thing I've always disliked is the square dots above the letter 'i'. Calligraphy pens can make square dots but normally pen ink produces a rounded dot, which looks less computer-like. Myriad has rounded dots. Actually, it looks like San Francisco has rounded dots too so that's a positive:
Helvetica Neue:
San Francisco:
People that don't notice will continue to drink boxed wine like it was good.
People that don't notice will continue to drink boxed wine like it was good.
Nah. There is nothing wrong with Helvetica Neue 37 Thin, it is a very elegant font, but perhaps a little like drinking fine wine with Cheerios and milk. It was just inappropriate for use with many of the backgrounds and color schemes used in iOS. San Francisco is a definite improvement in my opinion.
Keep it up guys.
It is easy for young designers not to think of how older people with limited vision deal with difficult type faces.
Toyota used to make their designers wear glasses smeared with vaseline to let them see if they could operate controls inside of Toyota vehicle mockups.
If your vision is so bad that you can't read the instruments on your dash, you have no business behind the wheel to begin with.
Or maybe I'm breaking out in hives. I can't tell, which is apropos. Wow!
Maybe they shouldn't be driving if they can't see?
If I don't wear glasses, I can clearly see everything outside the vehicle (car/truck/airplane) to the horizon. What I can't see as well are instruments and panel/cockpit controls, especially if they're all similar in appearance, shape, and local contrast to the panel.
There's a very wide range between "I can see it so everyone else can get stuffed" youth and "it's really time to give up driving" vision impairment.
Interesting. Looks like they are using a combination of Helvetia blue and San Fran. Helvetica for headings and San Fran for body copy
That's just the bold version of San Francisco: it's a little heavier and wider than the standard letterforms.
No good designer would ever use two very similar sans serif fonts together.
It's Neue.