5 ms·

New iOS designs

43 points by joshuamerrill 13y ago

vacri 13y ago
I hope Ive does more than just redesign the lock screen and home screen icons.
- chromejs10 13y ago
  Same here. Supposedly there is a big overhaul on apps like Mail. I'm definitely hoping for some sort of live widget functionality and a new home screen
- ForFreedom 13y ago
  The icons are amazing.
Void_ 13y ago
They are all interesting, but a design isn't better just because it's prettier. I wouldn't even say they are prettier, but that's a matter of personal preference. Linkbait anyone?
- joshuamerrill 13y ago
  No, not linkbait. :) Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Apple's design choices also create trends that are echoed both on and offline by designers everywhere. Edit: I think what makes iOS 7 particularly interesting is that, IMHO, many of us have seen Apple falling behind in the area of software design. I personally would love to see Apple regain its reputation here.
  - supercoder 13y ago
    Who have they fallen behind ?
    - joshuamerrill 13y ago
      I would argue that in the past couple years, both Microsoft and Google—and not Apple—have been setting the trend in software design, notably in the growing rejection of skeuomorphism and the embrace of flat design.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
tuananh 13y ago
last picture looks like Android.
- joeblau 13y ago
  And WM8
  - tpetrina 13y ago
    Sorry to nitpick, but it's WP8 as in Windows Phone 8.
rurounijones 13y ago
You can tell that was done by designers going for "ooh pretty" with usability somewhere down the priority list. "Fold to unlock"? What does that mean? Apple has spent years teaching users about the "Slide to unlock" metaphor and now you want to change the wording? I need to fold my phone? wha? The contacts list with only pictures of contact's faces, because in the real world I have pictures of EVERYONE on my contact list, my lawyer, the plumber, that guy I met at the conference who quickly swapped numbers with... The app icons with no names was already dealt with in the post. I do like the keyboard though.
- supercoder 13y ago
  Agreed, most of these only work due to the contrived examples. The first one only looks good because of the background, uniform nature of the icons and omission of app titles. Think it's going to be a stretch to have all apps adapt the same icon style and users restricted from changing the background. Nothing wrong with looking to apply a few fresh coats of paint,but unfortunately Apple actually have to think about how it works in the real world, not just how it looks. People just randomly pointing to things that look half good and saying iOS should be like that is not being helpful.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    How many people on hackernews can't tell the difference between concepts and real designs? I guess a lot. Blame the bad title in the blog entry.
- bmunro 13y ago
  The keyboard looks like the stock Android keyboard, but with black keys instead of the grey that Android has.
- joshuamerrill 13y ago
  If anything, I think "fold to unlock" better expresses Apple's current visual style, which is that every element of the OS must exist in physical space somewhere—i.e., the multitasking tray exists "below" the home screen, the notification center exists "above" it. The current lock screen doesn't really "exist" anywhere relative to the rest of the OS.
yogrish 13y ago
Ya, they are just different. But Cannot conclude that they are all better. Now that people got bored with old apple designs, these might look better. But I liked - "Fold to unlock and Contacts with Photos".
brianchu 13y ago
These are all pretty and nice, but the majority of them are UX regressions. 1. App icons without app names. 2. A keyboard where the button edges are less clearly identifiable. 3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps) 4. A fold to unlock that ignores the reason that slide to unlock exists, preventing unintentional unlock (fold to unlock would be sensitive to touch across the entire screen) The messages and contacts designs look slightly more promising. I think it would be interesting and possibly more usable to have a contacts list with faces in it, but in a list view, not necessarily in a 2d grid. I like the slide-out menu visual metaphor; it seems to give the side-out pattern some of the affordance that is lacking in the current way that slide-outs are animated.
- supercoder 13y ago
  3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps) What are the advantages to showing view of other apps ? Other than it looking attractive in mockups. When I'm switching to an app, I almost always know what app I'm trying to get to, it's contents is rarely useful to know when switching to it. So personally I've never found the stack switching thing useful in say Windows 7, it actually makes it more confusing because there's more data to take in. OSX still just keeps it simple with the icons and that seems to work great. Technically it's a very easy thing for Apple to implement (previews that is) but I suspect they have it like they do because it's actually the better solution.
  - joshuamerrill 13y ago
    I would argue that Mission Control—not the Dock—is the equivalent of the iOS multitasking tray. The Dock can show applications that are not running, while the multitasking tray cannot (at least, from the user's POV). When using Mission Control, I personally do find value in seeing what my open applications are doing. Often that's a factor in whether I keep them running. EDIT: I was assuming when you said "...keeps it simple with the icons..." that you were referring to the Dock.
jamhan 13y ago
It's not April 1st but I laughed out loud anyway when I read about "fold to unlock".
- vacri 13y ago
  Especially since 'fold' isn't an action you can do with your finger against glass.
sgdesign 13y ago
These are taken out of context. They're just mock-ups posted to Dribbble to play with new ideas, the designers who came up with them are not seriously suggesting they should be implemented as is. Saying that these concepts show bad UX is like saying that a paper sketch lacks polish. It's completely missing the point.
chromejs10 13y ago
Some of these look nice, and I really liked the keyboard. However I definitely don't agree with the author that somehow fold to unlock was "more intuitive". Also a few of them looked too similar to windows phone and Facebook Home. It should also be noted that a few of those have already been implemented on jailbroken devices in Cydia so I'm not sure how many are actually original ideas. I am very excited to see what iOS 7 will bring us and it's good to see people creating their own mockups. Might give Apple even better ideas :)
ForFreedom 13y ago
Fold to unlock sounds like a laundry room term
kapowaz 13y ago
All very interesting concepts, very nicely implemented. But, I guarantee you Apple has built dozens of designs like this internally, tested them and rejected them because they didn't work as well as what they actually went with.
dutchbrit 13y ago
"8 new iOS designs that are better than Apple's" Sorry, but I really have to disagree. Didn't see anything better than the current design.. And if you mean in regards to new design, you don't know hoe that's going to be. A complete rehaul from what I hear, there's nothing innovating in those mockups. Not saying that they look ugly.
mark_integerdsv 13y ago
Personally and as a user of nothing but iPhones since 1st gen I am less concerned about aesthetics and considerably more concerned about functionality. iOS handling of the hand off between apps is nothing short of an embarrassment. The constant ->into this app->out to homescreen->into that app->out to homescreen is a joke at this stage of the game and something needs to be done about it - desperately. there are other issues here and there too but this is a daily embuggerance. Squawking about stitching and torn pages, etc. frankly makes little sense when the actual affordances of the UI are shamefully out of date. I pray that Ive is focusing on UX and not just on flat vs skeumorphic design. iOS is in poor shape at the moment, IMO.

New iOS designs

43 points by joshuamerrill 13y ago

vacri 13y ago

I hope Ive does more than just redesign the lock screen and home screen icons.

chromejs10 13y ago
Same here. Supposedly there is a big overhaul on apps like Mail. I'm definitely hoping for some sort of live widget functionality and a new home screen
ForFreedom 13y ago
The icons are amazing.

Void_ 13y ago

They are all interesting, but a design isn't better just because it's prettier. I wouldn't even say they are prettier, but that's a matter of personal preference. Linkbait anyone?

joshuamerrill 13y ago
No, not linkbait. :) Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Apple's design choices also create trends that are echoed both on and offline by designers everywhere. Edit: I think what makes iOS 7 particularly interesting is that, IMHO, many of us have seen Apple falling behind in the area of software design. I personally would love to see Apple regain its reputation here.
- supercoder 13y ago
  Who have they fallen behind ?
  - joshuamerrill 13y ago
    I would argue that in the past couple years, both Microsoft and Google—and not Apple—have been setting the trend in software design, notably in the growing rejection of skeuomorphism and the embrace of flat design.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]

tuananh 13y ago

last picture looks like Android.

joeblau 13y ago
And WM8
- tpetrina 13y ago
  Sorry to nitpick, but it's WP8 as in Windows Phone 8.

rurounijones 13y ago

You can tell that was done by designers going for "ooh pretty" with usability somewhere down the priority list. "Fold to unlock"? What does that mean? Apple has spent years teaching users about the "Slide to unlock" metaphor and now you want to change the wording? I need to fold my phone? wha? The contacts list with only pictures of contact's faces, because in the real world I have pictures of EVERYONE on my contact list, my lawyer, the plumber, that guy I met at the conference who quickly swapped numbers with... The app icons with no names was already dealt with in the post. I do like the keyboard though.

supercoder 13y ago
Agreed, most of these only work due to the contrived examples. The first one only looks good because of the background, uniform nature of the icons and omission of app titles. Think it's going to be a stretch to have all apps adapt the same icon style and users restricted from changing the background. Nothing wrong with looking to apply a few fresh coats of paint,but unfortunately Apple actually have to think about how it works in the real world, not just how it looks. People just randomly pointing to things that look half good and saying iOS should be like that is not being helpful.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  How many people on hackernews can't tell the difference between concepts and real designs? I guess a lot. Blame the bad title in the blog entry.
bmunro 13y ago
The keyboard looks like the stock Android keyboard, but with black keys instead of the grey that Android has.
joshuamerrill 13y ago
If anything, I think "fold to unlock" better expresses Apple's current visual style, which is that every element of the OS must exist in physical space somewhere—i.e., the multitasking tray exists "below" the home screen, the notification center exists "above" it. The current lock screen doesn't really "exist" anywhere relative to the rest of the OS.

yogrish 13y ago

Ya, they are just different. But Cannot conclude that they are all better. Now that people got bored with old apple designs, these might look better. But I liked - "Fold to unlock and Contacts with Photos".

brianchu 13y ago

These are all pretty and nice, but the majority of them are UX regressions. 1. App icons without app names. 2. A keyboard where the button edges are less clearly identifiable. 3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps) 4. A fold to unlock that ignores the reason that slide to unlock exists, preventing unintentional unlock (fold to unlock would be sensitive to touch across the entire screen) The messages and contacts designs look slightly more promising. I think it would be interesting and possibly more usable to have a contacts list with faces in it, but in a list view, not necessarily in a 2d grid. I like the slide-out menu visual metaphor; it seems to give the side-out pattern some of the affordance that is lacking in the current way that slide-outs are animated.

supercoder 13y ago
3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps) What are the advantages to showing view of other apps ? Other than it looking attractive in mockups. When I'm switching to an app, I almost always know what app I'm trying to get to, it's contents is rarely useful to know when switching to it. So personally I've never found the stack switching thing useful in say Windows 7, it actually makes it more confusing because there's more data to take in. OSX still just keeps it simple with the icons and that seems to work great. Technically it's a very easy thing for Apple to implement (previews that is) but I suspect they have it like they do because it's actually the better solution.
- joshuamerrill 13y ago
  I would argue that Mission Control—not the Dock—is the equivalent of the iOS multitasking tray. The Dock can show applications that are not running, while the multitasking tray cannot (at least, from the user's POV). When using Mission Control, I personally do find value in seeing what my open applications are doing. Often that's a factor in whether I keep them running. EDIT: I was assuming when you said "...keeps it simple with the icons..." that you were referring to the Dock.

jamhan 13y ago

It's not April 1st but I laughed out loud anyway when I read about "fold to unlock".

vacri 13y ago
Especially since 'fold' isn't an action you can do with your finger against glass.

sgdesign 13y ago

These are taken out of context. They're just mock-ups posted to Dribbble to play with new ideas, the designers who came up with them are not seriously suggesting they should be implemented as is. Saying that these concepts show bad UX is like saying that a paper sketch lacks polish. It's completely missing the point.

chromejs10 13y ago

Some of these look nice, and I really liked the keyboard. However I definitely don't agree with the author that somehow fold to unlock was "more intuitive". Also a few of them looked too similar to windows phone and Facebook Home. It should also be noted that a few of those have already been implemented on jailbroken devices in Cydia so I'm not sure how many are actually original ideas. I am very excited to see what iOS 7 will bring us and it's good to see people creating their own mockups. Might give Apple even better ideas :)

ForFreedom 13y ago

Fold to unlock sounds like a laundry room term

kapowaz 13y ago

All very interesting concepts, very nicely implemented. But, I guarantee you Apple has built dozens of designs like this internally, tested them and rejected them because they didn't work as well as what they actually went with.

dutchbrit 13y ago

"8 new iOS designs that are better than Apple's" Sorry, but I really have to disagree. Didn't see anything better than the current design.. And if you mean in regards to new design, you don't know hoe that's going to be. A complete rehaul from what I hear, there's nothing innovating in those mockups. Not saying that they look ugly.

mark_integerdsv 13y ago

Personally and as a user of nothing but iPhones since 1st gen I am less concerned about aesthetics and considerably more concerned about functionality. iOS handling of the hand off between apps is nothing short of an embarrassment. The constant ->into this app->out to homescreen->into that app->out to homescreen is a joke at this stage of the game and something needs to be done about it - desperately. there are other issues here and there too but this is a daily embuggerance. Squawking about stitching and torn pages, etc. frankly makes little sense when the actual affordances of the UI are shamefully out of date. I pray that Ive is focusing on UX and not just on flat vs skeumorphic design. iOS is in poor shape at the moment, IMO.