iOS 7 design changes remain in flux, likely to see major revisions before release

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Much has been said, both positive and negative, about the look of Apple's iOS 7, though new information reveals the design showed off at WWDC on Monday was merely a work in progress, meaning those initial impressions are likely to change in the months ahead.

iOS 7


According to The Next Web, people familiar with Apple's latest mobile operating system said the iOS 7 beta, as well as the preview shown at the WWDC keynote on Monday, is a "mid-stride" snapshot of the work being done behind closed doors.

The pace is so quick that some of the builds used to present the OS on stage two days ago were later versions of what was seeded to developers in the iOS 7 beta. It can't be confirmed which feature sets are more advanced, though the beta version is slightly inconsistent with the OS demoed on Monday by software engineering head Craig Federighi.

The fact that iOS 7 will change before it is released seems obvious in that the software currently in the hands of developers are beta versions meant for testing. However, while backend and UI tweaks are expected to change for early build software, the radically different new design language of iOS 7 is also reportedly largely under construction.

Interestingly, Apple's senior vice president of Industrial Design Jony Ive, who is now also the head of the company's Human Interaction section, called on in-house marketing design teams to flesh out the much ballyhooed first party app icons.

The sources said both print and web design personnel laid down a framework of color palettes and a general "look," which Ive's app designers used as guidelines to produce what was seen in the iOS 7 preview. As with operational facets of the OS, these are also works in progress.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said iOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, and from a design perspective that rings true. Ive and his team have managed to dismantle almost every theme and nuance that the OS has amassed over the preceding six years and six generations. From skeuomorphic iconography to UI and UX, the new iOS 7 tears down almost everything, replacing it with a clean, if not controversial, design. Apple has managed, at least in these early builds, to achieve a feel that is at once completely new and wholly familiar.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 164


    I wouldn't mind them toning down the crayola colours a bit

  • Reply 2 of 164
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Much has been said, both positive and negative, about the look of Apple's iOS 7, though new information reveals the design showed off at WWDC on Monday was merely a work in progress, meaning those initial impressions are likely to change in the months ahead.


     

    ...

    According to The Next Web, people familiar with Apple's latest mobile operating system said the iOS 7 beta, as well as the preview shown at the WWDC keynote on Monday, is a "mid-stride" snapshot of the work being done behind closed doors.

    ...

    Interestingly, Apple's senior vice president of Industrial Design Jony Ive, who is now also the head of the company's Human Interaction section, called on in-house marketing design teams to flesh out the much ballyhooed first party app icons.



    The sources said both print and web design personnel laid down a framework of color palettes and a general "look," which Ive's app designers used as guidelines to produce what was seen in the iOS 7 preview. As with operational facets of the OS, these are also works in progress.


     


    No surprise. This is very much an unfinished product. It's impressive that they pulled off such a successful keynote given the status of iOS7. 


     


    It's wonderful that they are developing unifying themes across all departments. As mentioned previously, this portends an awesome iPhone 6, which will be more fully integrated with iOS8. 


     


    I do wish they would consider making their website more responsive. As someone else mentioned (would give credit where it's due but I don't remember who it was), a company that makes more mobile devices than anyone else should realize that their website needs to be mobile-friendly.

  • Reply 3 of 164
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    This Ive fella, pretty smart chap.
  • Reply 4 of 164
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post



    This Ive fella, pretty smart chap.


    Indeed. Cooks' gambit paid off.

  • Reply 5 of 164
    brutus009brutus009 Posts: 356member


    There's a fair chunk of time between now and release, but that kind of time goes quick.  I can't imagine more than 1 or 2 big changes by then.


     


    That being said, I expect to see a significant number of point releases following the 7.0 release.  Something this big, they can't afford to not iterate immediately.

  • Reply 6 of 164
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member
    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.
  • Reply 7 of 164
    jjarojjaro Posts: 29member
    Wow, it kind if makes sense to me now why some things in iOS 7 seem a little different from what was gown. For example the "new" Siri voices at are supposed to be present are nowhere to be found yet. It's still using the same voice as before, and I haven't been able to find an option to change it.
  • Reply 8 of 164
    For the love of God and all things holy, let them change the font. Helvetica Nueue Ultra Light, particularly when it's white on a light background, is going to kill my eyes.

    I can't read half the screenshots. I have to squint to read the white on blue text messages--and that's really my go-to Ap. My eyes aren't that bad, but I'm not going to get bifocals so that I can use my phone.

    Helvetica Nueue Thin or even Light would be so much better.
  • Reply 9 of 164
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    stelligent wrote: »
    No surprise. This is very much an unfinished product. It's impressive that they pulled off such a successful keynote given the status of iOS7. 

    It's wonderful that they are developing unifying themes across all departments. As mentioned previously, this portends an awesome iPhone 6, which will be more fully integrated with iOS8. 

    I do wish they would consider making their website more responsive. As someone else mentioned (would give credit where it's due but I don't remember who it was), a company that makes more mobile devices than anyone else should realize that their website needs to be mobile-friendly.
    Yep I think all those rumors of iOS being behind schedule were true. My sense is Apple new they had to do something different now even if its an unfinished product. Going another year with the iOS 6 UI was not an option. This makes me wonder if we will see a lot more point releases after iOS 7 goes live.
  • Reply 10 of 164
    bugsnwbugsnw Posts: 717member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


     


    I do wish they would consider making their website more responsive. As someone else mentioned (would give credit where it's due but I don't remember who it was), a company that makes more mobile devices than anyone else should realize that their website needs to be mobile-friendly.



     


    Yeah, interesting point. Their website is a strange dichotomy. Lots of white space, so that works with the new, modern iOS 7. But then there's that glossy, static title bar on top that hangs on to the past.


     


    I bet they modernize their layout. Everything else is getting a refresh. Their portal to our wallets might as well join the party.

  • Reply 11 of 164
    smiles77smiles77 Posts: 668member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Jjaro View Post



    Wow, it kind if makes sense to me now why some things in iOS 7 seem a little different from what was gown. For example the "new" Siri voices at are supposed to be present are nowhere to be found yet. It's still using the same voice as before, and I haven't been able to find an option to change it.


    It's in the release notes. There's a bug note stating they're not included in this build.


     


    It's dev software. Release notes matter. Read 'em and prosper.

  • Reply 12 of 164


    Biggest problem is that new icons look like from very very cheap Chinese copy of some Android phone (the icons are seriously ugly). image


    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).

  • Reply 13 of 164
    Good to know they will work on the icons. The only other thing that stood out to me is the rightmost image in this article, the way tabs are handled in safari. The 3D file system feels out of place with the rest of the OS, don't understand their thinking on that one. Reminds me of coverflow, which I never personally liked.

    Almost everything else looks great to me, cant wait to use it.
  • Reply 14 of 164
    I love the new Diet Coke Style. Here in Germany Diet Coke is also named LIGHT and this is, what I feel at iOS 7
  • Reply 15 of 164
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    There are many design issues they need to go over. Furthermore, third party developers need to go over their apps as well. Compiling with Xcode 5 beta moves all pre iOS 7 UI elements to iOS 7. This is big issue for developers who used the old UI elements along with custom designs since they have to redesign their entire apps. Apple recommend developers change their designs to iOS 7 then work on iOS 6 compatible design elements. This is going to be interesting.
    brutus009 wrote: »
    There's a fair chunk of time between now and release, but that kind of time goes quick.  I can't imagine more than 1 or 2 big changes by then.

    That being said, I expect to see a significant number of point releases following the 7.0 release.  Something this big, they can't afford to not iterate immediately.

    If my memory is right, last year they released new beta every 2 weeks. The time between the last beta and GM was almost a month though.
  • Reply 16 of 164
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    For the love of God and all things holy, let them change the font. Helvetica Nueue Ultra Light, particularly when it's white on a light background, is going to kill my eyes.

    I can't read half the screenshots. I have to squint to read the white on blue text messages--and that's really my go-to Ap. My eyes aren't that bad, but I'm not going to get bifocals so that I can use my phone.

    Helvetica Nueue Thin or even Light would be so much better.

    Don't worry, There is an option in the settings to make the font bigger system wide.
  • Reply 17 of 164
    focherfocher Posts: 687member


    There will undoubtedly be rapid iterations on the UI front during the beta cycle. Personally, I find myself liking a lot of the changes but many are still unrefined. Color schemes and icon designs are largely subjective, but some of the things like transparency, font sizing, and unclear button elements actually cause problems with usability. I suspect they will also need to get more extreme on the dynamic elements which are meant to compensate for wallpaper color schemes. Put a white wallpaper on the device and you will really see the problem.

  • Reply 18 of 164
    ahmlcoahmlco Posts: 432member
    It should have been obvious that this wasn't a final design, and that more changes would occur before the final release and launch date.
  • Reply 19 of 164
    c4rlobc4rlob Posts: 277member
    The Safari navigation icons immediately struck me as half-baked (especially the Share icon that looks more appropriate for an elevator) and no where near a design language that Jony Ive would let out of Cupertino.
  • Reply 20 of 164
    coffeetimecoffeetime Posts: 116member


    You know, I really don't care all that much about how much detail goes into an icon, as long as I can figure out what the icon is trying to convey without too much difficulty.  I want real, actual functionality improvements.  Case in point - you shouldn't have to download a 3rd-party app in order to send email to a group from iOS. That just seems pretty basic to me, something that should be a standard feature.  Shifting gears to OS X, why not bring back scroll arrows to those of us who still use a mouse?  Every time I try and work on a spreadsheet and have to drag the scroll "thumb" just the right amount to do what I could've easily have done with one or two clicks of a down/up scroll arrow, I curse the Apple "soup Nazi(s)" that made the decision to drop this functionality.


     


    By the way, with relatively large improvements coming to the built-in Photos app (iOS), what will happen to the paid (and rarely updated) iPhoto app for iOS?  Whither and die?

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