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Apple used to be known for their amazing designs. That was when Steve was running the company. Since his death Apple has been in a free fall in the design space

Apple used to be known for their amazing designs. That was when Steve was running the company. Since his death Apple has been in a free fall in the design space. Most of the comments here seem to be about their awful hardware design. Yes, the thin macbook is not very usable, and the Homepod which is shaped like an amorphous blob is uglier than any Bose speaker. But what about their software? Their UI design is super unusable too. (See some specific examples here https://uxcritique.tumblr.com/ https://uxcritique.tumblr.com/ ) Flat design is a usability disaster; see studies from Nielsen Norman group and others https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design-long-exposure/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design-long-exposure/ I am glad Ive is gone. Maybe Apple can now recover.

asciimov 7y ago
The problem is Jony Ive ran out of Dieter Rams designs to borrow from.
- mruniverse 7y ago
  At least he borrowed some nice designs. For me, the iphone 4 was a great design. The hockey puck mouse was horrible though. Was that an Ive design?
vehementi 7y ago
Is the UI super unusable, or does it have some flaws?
- m1sta_ 7y ago
  I switched to Android from iOS about 18 months ago and badly miss the iOS UX. iOS is flawed, but less flawed than the competition. I don't feel that OsX is the leader in the desktop space anymore.
panopticon 7y ago
That seems pretty hyperbolic, especially considering that Nielsen says flat designs are on the right track. To quote, "Early pseudo-3D GUIs and Steve-Jobs-esque skeuomorphism often produced heavy, clunky interfaces. Scaling back from those excesses is good for usability. But removing visual distinctions to produce fully flat designs with no signifiers can be an equally bad extreme. Flat 2.0 provides an opportunity for compromise — visual simplicity without sacrificing signifiers." And that Tumblr blog appears equally hyperbolic. There are some clear UI/UX mistakes in there, but the blog is conveniently ignoring how visually noisy those pre-Yosmite GUI elements are in-context by providing oddly cropped screenshots to make a point.
- marcusjt 7y ago
  i.e. Nielsen advocates something much more like Material Design
- UIZealot 7y ago
  The biggest ding they could come up with against skeuomorphism is "heavy, clunky"? Skeuomorphic UIs maybe "heavy" and "clunky", but they were also beautiful, whimsical, and fun! They brought me joy each time I use them. Flat design, in contrast, is soulless and depressing. God I miss the Steve Jobs era! Apple could've been the beacon of light amongst darkness, like it used to be. But his death, and the subsequent betrayal of his trust by Jony Ive, condemned the entire world to soulless and depressing UIs. And there's no end in sight.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - SebastianKra 7y ago
    If you think Flat design can't be fun, then I encourage you to look at the entire iPad gesture system [1]. I feel like Iron Man when using it. Also, the Apple Books app [2] isn't purely flat, but it shows that flat Design can have just as much character. [1] Multitasking, Drag and Drop, Text Selection, Control Center, Cut Copy Paste Undo. [2] https://www.apple.com/apple-books/ https://www.apple.com/apple-books/
    - UIZealot 7y ago
      I'll concede that skeuomorphism, at its worst, can be heavy and clunky; while flat design, at its best, can also be fun.
  - petilon 7y ago
    EVERYTHING beautiful is skeuomorphic. The page turn in iBooks, page curl in maps, cover flow, the shred animation in older versions of Passbook, the date picker in iOS 6, rotating settings gear (when updating iOS 6), the Time Machine interface in older versions of OS X, photo borders and shadows in older versions of iWorks documents, etc. This is not surprising, because our sense of beauty comes from the physical world. So what is the problem with skeuomorphism? Tech enthusiasts would like their phones to look like something from the future, not something from the past. But ordinary everyday people prefer for it to look like things they are already familiar with, or can relate to. Tech enthusiasts worry that the skeuomorphism was getting totally out of hand, particularly where the UI metaphor started limiting functionality (e.g. an address database that's limited to what a Rolodex can do, rather than exploiting what is possible with a computer). But this is not really true. For example, iBooks has instant search, something only possible with a computer. Some people point out that many skeuomorphic elements reference things that a large part of Apple's audience hasn't used in a long time, if ever. True, but here's the thing: It doesn't matter whether the user has ever seen a reel-to-reel tape. What matters is whether the visuals depict a physical object that the user can model in his mind. If it is too abstract (that's the opposite of physical) then non-tech-enthusiast users will find it hard to intuit. Some people say skeuomorphism looks tacky. This is partly true. Skeuomorphism is hard to do. When done poorly it does look tacky. But when done well it looks very beautiful. By removing all skeuomorphism Apple threw the baby out with the bathwater.
jonknee 7y ago
Steve let some awful designs out. Remember the hockey puck mouse? He even released his own awful expensive failure of a speaker.
- sprafa 7y ago
  That speaker was GORGEOUS though.
catacombs 7y ago
> I am glad Ive is gone. He might be gone, but, after 30 years with Apple, helping the company rake in billions and billions of dollars in sales, he is set for life and can pretty much do whatever he wants. His next venture might impact you down the line.
xfkechyk 7y ago
maybe they'll finally add an app drawer so you're not forced to organize every single app in a tedious fashion across multiple home screens
SebastianKra 7y ago
Here's the Outline for the Tumblr article, if you don't want to deal with Oath: https://outline.com/nsv6Nw https://outline.com/nsv6Nw

asciimov 7y ago

The problem is Jony Ive ran out of Dieter Rams designs to borrow from.

mruniverse 7y ago
At least he borrowed some nice designs. For me, the iphone 4 was a great design. The hockey puck mouse was horrible though. Was that an Ive design?

vehementi 7y ago

Is the UI super unusable, or does it have some flaws?

m1sta_ 7y ago
I switched to Android from iOS about 18 months ago and badly miss the iOS UX. iOS is flawed, but less flawed than the competition. I don't feel that OsX is the leader in the desktop space anymore.

panopticon 7y ago

That seems pretty hyperbolic, especially considering that Nielsen says flat designs are on the right track. To quote, "Early pseudo-3D GUIs and Steve-Jobs-esque skeuomorphism often produced heavy, clunky interfaces. Scaling back from those excesses is good for usability. But removing visual distinctions to produce fully flat designs with no signifiers can be an equally bad extreme. Flat 2.0 provides an opportunity for compromise — visual simplicity without sacrificing signifiers." And that Tumblr blog appears equally hyperbolic. There are some clear UI/UX mistakes in there, but the blog is conveniently ignoring how visually noisy those pre-Yosmite GUI elements are in-context by providing oddly cropped screenshots to make a point.

marcusjt 7y ago
i.e. Nielsen advocates something much more like Material Design
UIZealot 7y ago
The biggest ding they could come up with against skeuomorphism is "heavy, clunky"? Skeuomorphic UIs maybe "heavy" and "clunky", but they were also beautiful, whimsical, and fun! They brought me joy each time I use them. Flat design, in contrast, is soulless and depressing. God I miss the Steve Jobs era! Apple could've been the beacon of light amongst darkness, like it used to be. But his death, and the subsequent betrayal of his trust by Jony Ive, condemned the entire world to soulless and depressing UIs. And there's no end in sight.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- SebastianKra 7y ago
  If you think Flat design can't be fun, then I encourage you to look at the entire iPad gesture system [1]. I feel like Iron Man when using it. Also, the Apple Books app [2] isn't purely flat, but it shows that flat Design can have just as much character. [1] Multitasking, Drag and Drop, Text Selection, Control Center, Cut Copy Paste Undo. [2] https://www.apple.com/apple-books/ https://www.apple.com/apple-books/
  - UIZealot 7y ago
    I'll concede that skeuomorphism, at its worst, can be heavy and clunky; while flat design, at its best, can also be fun.
- petilon 7y ago
  EVERYTHING beautiful is skeuomorphic. The page turn in iBooks, page curl in maps, cover flow, the shred animation in older versions of Passbook, the date picker in iOS 6, rotating settings gear (when updating iOS 6), the Time Machine interface in older versions of OS X, photo borders and shadows in older versions of iWorks documents, etc. This is not surprising, because our sense of beauty comes from the physical world. So what is the problem with skeuomorphism? Tech enthusiasts would like their phones to look like something from the future, not something from the past. But ordinary everyday people prefer for it to look like things they are already familiar with, or can relate to. Tech enthusiasts worry that the skeuomorphism was getting totally out of hand, particularly where the UI metaphor started limiting functionality (e.g. an address database that's limited to what a Rolodex can do, rather than exploiting what is possible with a computer). But this is not really true. For example, iBooks has instant search, something only possible with a computer. Some people point out that many skeuomorphic elements reference things that a large part of Apple's audience hasn't used in a long time, if ever. True, but here's the thing: It doesn't matter whether the user has ever seen a reel-to-reel tape. What matters is whether the visuals depict a physical object that the user can model in his mind. If it is too abstract (that's the opposite of physical) then non-tech-enthusiast users will find it hard to intuit. Some people say skeuomorphism looks tacky. This is partly true. Skeuomorphism is hard to do. When done poorly it does look tacky. But when done well it looks very beautiful. By removing all skeuomorphism Apple threw the baby out with the bathwater.

jonknee 7y ago

Steve let some awful designs out. Remember the hockey puck mouse? He even released his own awful expensive failure of a speaker.

sprafa 7y ago
That speaker was GORGEOUS though.

catacombs 7y ago

> I am glad Ive is gone. He might be gone, but, after 30 years with Apple, helping the company rake in billions and billions of dollars in sales, he is set for life and can pretty much do whatever he wants. His next venture might impact you down the line.

xfkechyk 7y ago

maybe they'll finally add an app drawer so you're not forced to organize every single app in a tedious fashion across multiple home screens

SebastianKra 7y ago

Here's the Outline for the Tumblr article, if you don't want to deal with Oath: https://outline.com/nsv6Nw https://outline.com/nsv6Nw