WWDC attendees greeted with jackets featuring Apple Watch San Francisco font, Swift code

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited June 2015
Attendees registering for Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference are being given a familiar jacket with a new flourish: text set in the company's new internally created San Francisco font, along with a clever reference to Apple's recently released Swift language.




The windbreaker-style swag jacket lacks an Apple logo, instead simply stating "WWDC 2015" on the front with a large "15" on the back, nearly identical to the jackets Apple gave attendees last year.

There are a couple differences, principally the use of the San Francisco font that alludes to the company's new Apple Watch, which promises to get prime developer attention at the week-long conference.






Apple's WWDC 2015 jacket sports its new San Francisco font


It's likely that Apple's new iOS 9 and the next 10.11 version of OS X will also adopt the new font as their system default, providing a freshened appearance that harmonizes the overall appearance of the company's platforms.

While similar in style to the fog-resistant polyester-spandex jackets from WWDC 2014, this year's jackets also sport invisible zippers for their front pockets (as opposed to the open pockets last year).

While the fleece-lined, albeit lightweight, jacket might seem out of season in California in the month of June, San Francisco is infamous for its June Gloom, where days may be sunny but as soon as the sun goes down the fog rolls in and temperatures can plunge below their lowest point from the calendar's winter.

In another coy reference to its technology, Apple has outfitted its jackets with a garment tag that designates its size and comments that it was "Made in the USA" using code written in Swift, the new programing language introduced at last year's event.


Nerd humor: the tag is Swift code


The tag reads: 'let jacketSize = "Medium"' and "// Made in the USA," following Swift's conventions for assigning variables and adding code comments, in numbered lines and color coded text familiar to Apple's Xcode developers.

A few attendees are already lined up outside the Moscone West convention center, ready to sleep on the sidewalk tonight in order to be among the first to grab seats. Registration staff noted that Keynote attendees should be able to get a good seat if they're "in line by 5 am," but added that this year Apple will make sure everyone in attendance will get a seat.








Those not at the conference will be able to watch the WWDC Keynote via a live feed starting at 10 AM PST, via the web or Apple TV.
«1345

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 83
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Love the clever details on the jacket.
  • Reply 2 of 83
    Strikes me that this could suggest a San Francisco connection for OS X name - maybe " Golden Gate"? The "epicenter" thing is of course associated with earthquakes and thus 1906? Whatever...
  • Reply 3 of 83
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Everytime I look in my closet I see last year WWDC jacket and weep.
  • Reply 4 of 83
    frizzyfrizzy Posts: 4member
    Can't wait for the Craig Federighi show!!
  • Reply 5 of 83
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Bluestone View Post



    Strikes me that this could suggest a San Francisco connection for OS X name - maybe " Golden Gate"? The "epicenter" thing is of course associated with earthquakes and thus 1906? Whatever...



    OS X San Andreas? <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

  • Reply 6 of 83
    That's awesome! The jackets, fonts. Always sweating the details.
  • Reply 7 of 83
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Back when Macs had low res screens, some people complained that their use of paper fonts instead of screen-optimized fonts resulted in blurrier text than Windows. Then along came the HiDPI displays and it didn't matter any more. And so *now* we get a screen-optimized font, lol.

  • Reply 8 of 83
    9secondko9secondko Posts: 929member
    THe connections are cool.

    I really don't care for the San Francisco font as a designer.

    Sure, it MAY help the watch be more readable, but it adds nothiing to the phone, tablet. or computer. And it doesn't look as nice as Apple's variant of Helvetica Neue.

    I guess they feel the need to shake things up when too many deisgners copy them.
  • Reply 9 of 83
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 9secondko View Post



    THe connections are cool.



    I really don't care for the San Francisco font as a designer.



    Sure, it MAY help the watch be mroe readable, but it adds nothiing to the phone, tablet. or computer. And it doesn't look as nice as Apple's variant of Helvetica Neue.



    The utility of the font is certainly debatable, but stating a personal preference of appearance as fact has always been a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't look as nice to you, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't think it's the most beautiful font in the world. We still don't know for sure what will happen with it until tomorrow. Perhaps they are switching over to this font as their new "corporate" font for everything, maybe they are just highlighting it because of the Watch momentum, who knows?

  • Reply 10 of 83
    sporlosporlo Posts: 143member
    Does no other language use "let" in that context? Just curious.
  • Reply 11 of 83
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    hittrj01 wrote: »
    The utility of the font is certainly debatable, but stating a personal preference of appearance as fact has always been a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't look as nice to you, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't think it's the most beautiful font in the world.

    Agreed. I immediately roll my eyes whenever somebody touts the "as a designer" line. It's akin to saying "My mom says..."
  • Reply 12 of 83
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sporlo View Post



    Does no other language use "let" in that context? Just curious.



    No other language for Mac, iOS and :apple: Watch development.

     

    (how do you insert an Apple logo into these comments without using the Mac-specific character code?)

  • Reply 13 of 83
    9secondko wrote: »
    THe connections are cool.

    I really don't care for the San Francisco font as a designer.

    Sure, it MAY help the watch be more readable, but it adds nothiing to the phone, tablet. or computer. And it doesn't look as nice as Apple's variant of Helvetica Neue.

    I guess they feel the need to shake things up when too many deisgners copy them.

    I disagree. There are a number of usability problems that arise from the use of Helvetica Neue. Principally, the font is simply too insubstantial to offer much visual salience when used in contexts where figure and ground coloration is at all similar. In other words, in many real world use contexts, it's simply very hard to read.

    I'm glad that Apple addressed this issue because it will improve the user experience of their devices.
  • Reply 14 of 83
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Originally Posted by Sporlo View Post



    Does no other language use "let" in that context? Just curious.

     

    BASIC has a "Let" statement IIRC.

  • Reply 15 of 83
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Originally Posted by NolaMacGuy View Post



    Agreed. I immediately roll my eyes whenever somebody touts the "as a designer" line. It's akin to saying "My mom says..."

     

    Makes me think of "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" in commercials.

    I guess nobody does that any more.

  • Reply 16 of 83
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NolaMacGuy View Post





    Agreed. I immediately roll my eyes whenever somebody touts the "as a designer" line. It's akin to saying "My mom says..."



    Perhaps he's a graphic designer for print. That could explain his love for Helvetica. Anyway, he also gave a valid reason why Apple will change the font: "too many designers copy them".

     

    Personally, I'm not a fan of Helvetica Neue and think it's out of place as an OS font but can understand why some people prefer it over the new San Francisco.

  • Reply 17 of 83
    9secondko9secondko Posts: 929member
    I disagree. There are a number of usability problems that arise from the use of Helvetica Neue. Principally, the font is simply too insubstantial to offer much visual salience when used in contexts where figure and ground coloration is at all similar. In other words, in many real world use contexts, it's simply very hard to read.

    I'm glad that Apple addressed this issue because it will improve the user experience of their devices.

    I guess we will agree to disagree.

    On a watch, I can see it difficult to read.

    On the phone, no.

    On the iPad, no.

    On the Mac, no.

    Especially with the Retina display making text look sharper than a printed page.

    I think HN is a great balance of reaadability and style and it keeps the UI from having a heavy feel.

    The SF font looks more Urban and has a hevier feel to it, whereas HN looks classier and more "high end."

    If readability was the only issue, we would be seeing text in Healvetica Bold.

    But that would look very "crayola."

    HN is elegant. SF is more grunge. But perhaps that is what they are going for.

    It just seems to lack any character whatsoever.

    On the plus side, it is more "even" than most fonts, while retaining a humanist feel. It is spaced evenly and you can pretty much contain each letter in a perfect square.

    But it just doesn't "look" all that attractive.

    And whether we admit it or not, attractiveness is important in a UI.
  • Reply 18 of 83
    I think all the transparent circles and rounded squares that have been floating around the logo for this WWDC are app icons for iOS and ? watchOS. Being that it is a developers conference and all....
  • Reply 19 of 83
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    bluestone wrote: »
    Strikes me that this could suggest a San Francisco connection for OS X name - maybe " Golden Gate"? The "epicenter" thing is of course associated with earthquakes and thus 1906? Whatever...


    OS X San Andreas? :lol:
    Introduced by The Rock. It will be earth shaking.
  • Reply 20 of 83
    If that font is San Francisco, then it is a new form of it. San Francisco doesn't have rounded ends to the strokes.
Sign In or Register to comment.