Revamped icons hint at 'iOS 15' app redesign

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple has updated its App Store Connect, and Apple Music for Artists, apps to use icons resembling macOS design choices, potentially signifying that "iOS 15" will adopt the look of Big Sur.

New icons for the Apple Music for Artists, and App Store Connect, apps.
New icons for the Apple Music for Artists, and App Store Connect, apps.


Although all that's known of Apple's next major iPhone software release is that it will be called "iOS 15," two new icon redesigns do hint at its look and feel.

The Apple Music for Artists app is the most recent of the two, being updated on April 5. Alongside assorted bug fixes and unspecified improvements, the update to the app's version 1.3 comes with a new icon.

Left: the old Apple Music for Artists icon. Right: the new
Left: the old Apple Music for Artists icon. Right: the new


Previously, this app's icon resembled the regular Apple Music app's red background being blended into the blue of the usual Apple Developer app. Now it is inset within a red border, and the music note image has a slight 3D depth to it.

The new styling might not have been noticed, if it weren't that a similar design ethos has already been applied to another of Apple's apps. The App Store Connect app was updated to the same format on January 26, 2021.

Left: the old App Store Connect icon. Right: the new
Left: the old App Store Connect icon. Right: the new


Again, it is adds the inset border, this time in blue. And again, the major part of the icon is in 3D. Apple says only that this version 1.5.1 update contains stability improvements and bug fixes.

It's possible that the new look is simply the work of the same designer, although that doesn't account for why a change has been made at all. The fact that both app icons are from Apple and yet have stepped away from Apple's familiar flat design, could be more of a hint of other changes to come.

Apple is expected to unveil "iOS 15" at its WWDC 2021 event on June 7. Typically, it will then shortly enter a developer beta phase, followed by a public beta one, before a final release later in the year.

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patchythepirate

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    Isn’t it time Apple Music was replaced with Apple Entertainment to cover things like TV shows, movies, and music videos? Perhaps
    even fitness classes
  • Reply 2 of 12
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    KBuffett said:
    Isn’t it time Apple Music was replaced with Apple Entertainment to cover things like TV shows, movies, and music videos? Perhaps
    even fitness classes
    Yes, because lumping everything into one app worked so well with iTunes.

    I'm normally bored stiff when I read about Apple once again changing icons, and all the import that seems to be given. In this case, I like the 3D look of this, and wholly objected to "going flat". Can't wait to see how this turns out.
    muthuk_vanalingampulseimagesdysamoriatwokatmewpatchythepirateseanboy81williamlondon
  • Reply 3 of 12
    mobirdmobird Posts: 752member
    The Apple Connect icon looks like something updated from the Aqua era...
  • Reply 4 of 12
    This would be a weird choice.  Losing 20% of the available pixels for every logo by including a border would be a dramatic change.  Basically every logo would get smaller (and a little less distinctive).  It might look nice in marketing materials, showing a nice elegant arrangement of icons, but usability would suffer.  I trust Apple isn't actually considering this.
    dysamoriapalegolaswilliamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 12
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    I’m glad that we might finally be at the tail end of the generic and lazy flat design fad.

    I’m not glad that they’re possibly still going to keep pushing for so much uniformity as to still not have distinctiveness (the inner frame).

     But it’s a step in the right direction.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 6 of 12
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    Hideous if you ask me. It’s like when I turned on all layer effects as a youngster discovering Photoshop’s layer capabilities, thinking it looked so cool and impressive. There’s absolutely nothing serene about it. Its just eye clutter to me. It’s a bit like what that battery graphics in Mac OS 11’s battery settings screen looked like when it was first announced (is it still hideous? I haven’t updated.) Border AND embossed AND aqua reflective AND massive drop shadow AND text on top. I think the current flat design with a hint of gradient is contributing to a very serene, decluttered experience. Would be sad to see it go in this direction. I’ve seen more cluttered icons showing up lately in Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Final Cut Pro on Mac OS..

    The only thing that could validate this (in my opinion) terrible design, is if they’re readying icons to be truly 3D, ready for VR and AR. It’d make sense to show off 3D for a first generation, before maturing and bringing it to a more serene design again.
    caladanianwilliamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 12
    OMG.. skeuomorphism! 

    Remember when that was such a huge debate back in the Forstall days? So much hate for it lol. But I did love (still do) the flat, layered, modern aesthetic Apple switched to, I think it was in iOS 7.

    The boring and predictable look of the new icons annoys me, but the more I think about it, it makes sense that function should follow form for practical things like this that get used regularly,  and become just automatic actions that barely register in our consciousness. These new ones should definitely reduce UI anxiety, being very easily identifiable, and with the border that keeps them from bleeding into background images. 

    However, I really hope Apple also goes further with the iOS 7 idea and creates an even more optimized, hyper modern, hyper clean, hyper flat, hyper layered UI option, maybe called a ‘pro’ option, that has a slight learning curve, but allows really fast and efficient navigation. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 8 of 12
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    OMG.. skeuomorphism! 

    Remember when that was such a huge debate back in the Forstall days? So much hate for it lol. But I did love (still do) the flat, layered, modern aesthetic Apple switched to, I think it was in iOS 7.
    This isn't skeuomorphism — what real world physical object do either of these icons mimic? None. Skeumorphism was like a podcast player that looked like a reel-to-reel tape player, or a green felt game table, or a torn piece of paper in Calendar, etc.
    watto_cobracaladanianwilliamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 12
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    The App Store Connect icon is fucking terrible design. In the flat version, the gaps in the lines represented shadows from the three overlapping "sticks". Now that the shapes are beveled, the gaps make no sense and the "real" shadows just make it look like one of those visual puzzles of a shape that cannot exist in real life. I hate it.
    watto_cobracaladanian
  • Reply 10 of 12
    OMG.. skeuomorphism! 

    Remember when that was such a huge debate back in the Forstall days? So much hate for it lol. But I did love (still do) the flat, layered, modern aesthetic Apple switched to, I think it was in iOS 7.
    This isn't skeuomorphism — what real world physical object do either of these icons mimic? None. Skeumorphism was like a podcast player that looked like a reel-to-reel tape player, or a green felt game table, or a torn piece of paper in Calendar, etc.
    Good point. Thank you for the clarification. But maybe *kind of* the same thing? ..in that it’s mimicking physical objects via 3D effects? I’d be very curious to hear further opinions about this; I think my reasoning still stands, skeuomorphic or not. 
  • Reply 11 of 12
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    OMG.. skeuomorphism! 

    Remember when that was such a huge debate back in the Forstall days? So much hate for it lol. But I did love (still do) the flat, layered, modern aesthetic Apple switched to, I think it was in iOS 7.
    This isn't skeuomorphism — what real world physical object do either of these icons mimic? None. Skeumorphism was like a podcast player that looked like a reel-to-reel tape player, or a green felt game table, or a torn piece of paper in Calendar, etc.
    Good point. Thank you for the clarification. But maybe *kind of* the same thing? ..in that it’s mimicking physical objects via 3D effects? I’d be very curious to hear further opinions about this; I think my reasoning still stands, skeuomorphic or not. 
    Not really what the word means, but I get what you mean. Giving the icons simulated depth and reflection as to mimic real world buttons as they used to be is a sort of extension of that idea, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. The musical note is not a real world object in itself. The App Store Connect I suppose is mimicking a pile of sticks or whatever but it’s pretty abstracted. 
  • Reply 12 of 12
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,544member
    The App Store Connect icon is fucking terrible design. In the flat version, the gaps in the lines represented shadows from the three overlapping "sticks". Now that the shapes are beveled, the gaps make no sense and the "real" shadows just make it look like one of those visual puzzles of a shape that cannot exist in real life. I hate it.
    What? 

    It just looks like somebody took the original "three stick" design and turned it into a scooped engraving. There is absolutely nothing physically impossible or particularly outlandish about it. 
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