I will be dividing this review it into two parts.
Its been like a month since Apple introduced iOS 7 at the Worldwide developers Conference Keynote (aka. WWDC). Even though it hasn't been publicly released yet, Apple has granted developers early beta access to it - for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
This iOS version was re-designed by Jonathan Ive, which is now appointed as SVP, design at Apple.
In case you don't know, Ive was the lead designer of many of Apple's products, including MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, and the iPad Mini. The guy is a legend!
Apple is known for simple, sleek and elegant design. Whether it is for hardware or software, both seamlessly and perfectly complement each other.
For some reason, according to reviews and users' first impression about iOS 7 - it's a complete disaster. Some say it’s just a Flat minimalistic design that has gone too far in the wrong direction, and others' criticize the new color palette introduced, making fun of the gradients that have been used in the icons. Although most of the comments are somewhat true, yet, it got me thinking how could one of the greatest technology companies - that taught the world modern design - get it wrong? I then recalled what Steve Jobs said before about design:
“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that”
I decided to take his words to heart and take my time with the design assessment. First things first - below is the video shown at the start of the keynote. Notice how they played only with one ink circle element and font - pretty impressive.
Before I start reviewing iOS 7 itself, I’d like you to first consider a few things.
Apple releases new products yearly, to the extent that it has sometimes narrowed down the time between releases to 6 months. That might be quite frustrating for consumers but it’s quite pressuring on a business side to deliver.
I would say regular Apple fans change their iPhones on roughly a 2-3 year cycle. This means that Apple has to completely re-innovate its software and hardware around 5 times every 10 years. That is not easy, considering you are using the same team.
The concept of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” in design is absolute bogus. The corner stone of design is built around tedious iterations and testing. Companies need to keep on iterating and revisiting their concepts completely from the ground up. Take the Facebook interface, it has been redesigned multiple times – even though users have gotten used to it – but the main thing designers ask themselves of when redesigning such a general tool for mass audiences is:
Is there a simpler way of representing an object, icon …etc.?
There are millions of iOS devices out there, designing such an object is not an easy task. iPhones/iPads have become an essential part of our lives, yet the more involved in our lives the more they tend to fade. For you don’t really stop to wonder how your rooms' light switch is designed or how a pen looks – it basically just works.
People get bored easily, and the ultimate goal of design is to actually not make you think it’s designed at all. Taking design out of the way and geting all the unnecessary noise out of the way.
Another concept that has to be highlighted, is the fact that objects, interfaces, icons have to be simple enough to understand how they work or what their main function is from the first glimpse. e.g. when you see a TV remote control – you know it’s a TV remote control, when you see the red button on it, you realize it’s the on/off button.
This gets a bit more complex with computer software on screens.
“A lot of emphasis in design is on the screen”
It's a challenge for designers to have a skeuomorphic graphical user interface that emulates objects in the physical world. After all, there needs to be some sort of mental reference for people to understand what that design form reflects. You as an observer want to see some sort of reflection of an emotional energy. Apps should reflect what they are.
There are thousands of app logos out there, but Apple systems’ logos have always had a consistent feel to them. There is a particular question that I assume Apple thought of but I am not sure they nailed in iOS 7. “How can they differentiate themselves?” Are they in a game to show that they are different? Or are they doing something that is contributive?.
I’ll leave you to ponder upon this.
Us people generally want to have things that don’t exist – futuristic gadgets like the ones’ in movies like "Minority Report" and interfaces like the ones in "Oblivion". That creates a challenge for designers because they have no reference to base their design on.
But that’s not it. I was talking to my gf the other day, about how we should design our place and I quote her saying: “don’t design it like its 3013 – we need to make it still feel like home”.
This got me thinking – does that apply to everything – did iOS 7 make it feel not phone like any more – was that their problem?
