6 ms·

The choice of colors and gradients look terrible. They made iOS look worse. They swung too far away from skeuomorphic design. Even the art on the icons, without

The choice of colors and gradients look terrible. They made iOS look worse. They swung too far away from skeuomorphic design. Even the art on the icons, without considering the colors, look like an amateur drew them. Look at the SDK icon: http://i.imgur.com/JXw7KQA.png http://i.imgur.com/JXw7KQA.png That is ugly. So is the iTunes icon, so is the Safari icon. Not a fan.

ookblah 13y ago
Totally agree, when you see the screenshots all you see is white. I understand moving away from skeuomorphism but it doesn't feel distinctive anymore.
- kibibu 13y ago
  As opposed to the Generic Blue Square icons Apple used for everything previously? iOS < 7 had totally non-distinctive icons for Safari, Mail, App Store, Weather and Stocks. I don't think a lack of distinction compared to previous editions is a valid complaint here.
megablast 13y ago
This SDK icon is only to be used for the presentation. They certainly have gone for a very bright look.
frewsxcv 13y ago
The Mail and Newsstand are my least favorite
pazimzadeh 13y ago
The Settings icon is terrible as well, compared to the current one. http://cl.ly/PYkr http://cl.ly/PYkr
- hpagey 13y ago
  yea, I might faint if I look at it long enough.
stesch 13y ago
The pictures of iOS7 on the white iPhone look like those iPhone fakes from Asia.
infinia 13y ago
The more I see screenshots, the less I like it. I agree the icons look amateur. The padding inside the edges of the icons is too small. I also don't like the color palette, they are far too in-your-face and gaudy.
miguelrochefort 13y ago
They tried to get away from skeuomorphism, but still some remains. Just look at PassBook or the ugly 3D browsing through tabs. The whole design simply is not well thought out. This has clearly been rushed, which is not something I expect from Apple. If iOS 7 was leaked, people wouldn't believe it's the real thing. Sadly, it is. I'm staying with Windows Phone.
- drpancake 13y ago
  I'm not sure if flipping through 3D browser tabs mimics a real-life affordance.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - mortenjorck 13y ago
    The limited flat/skeu vocabulary doesn't have a word for it, but it's what I'd call a depth cue. (If you'll indulge me linking to my own article, I've tried to lay out a better framework here: http://interuserface.net/2013/05/flat-is-not-the-opposite-of-skeuomorphic/ http://interuserface.net/2013/05/flat-is-not-the-opposite-of...)
  - adw 13y ago
    It's a card index. (I happen to think it's a decent metaphor, but whatever, it's Internet Hate Week today.)
  - dsego 13y ago
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZZLvVTWuJM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZZLvVTWuJM
- midnitewarrior 13y ago
  I didn't know what Microsoft meant in their description of Windows Phone as "Authentically Digital" until I just saw the ugly bombshell Apple just left. The new iOS looks half-baked, they can't do anything too bold, else they lose their metaphors, yet they can't do anything radical like Microsoft did without redefining their platform and re-educating their users. Run away. Fast.
Geee 13y ago
Maybe they left some rubber duckies in there to remove later followed by huge applauses ;) I like the overall new style, however a bit of redefining here and there would be good, like some of the icons. Great update.
grbalaffa 13y ago
Skeuomorphic vs. flat is a red herring. Either one can be tastefully or tastelessly done. Today's iOS 7 unveil was unfortunately the latter. The sad truth is: once Steve Jobs passed on, the quality of designs coming out of Apple started to decline. The ousting of Scott Forstall and the rumored eschewing of anything resembling skeuomorphic design was heralded as the coming of a great new era, however now that we can see the first results it's apparent that Apple is no longer capable of producing great design at all, no matter where it lands on the skeu vs. flat spectrum. The new designs are still as ugly as the Forstall-era stuff; it's just a different kind of ugly. It makes me really sad, because the original iPhone was an incredible triumph that led the way of the industry for the next several years. I fear we will not see something of such high quality for a very long time after this. Nothing will change until there is once again someone in place at the top of Apple's hierarchy who can enforce the notion of good taste, regardless of the current fashion or style.
coldtea 13y ago
>Look at the SDK icon. That is ugly. It's ugly because nobody gives a fuck about the SDK icon. It's not even an icon anyway -- there's no "SDK" app. It's just a picture they put on the slides to represent the new SDK. Don't you think if you want to make sweeping statements you'd better start with the icons people will actually see everyday? How about the home screen?
hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
The icons are awful. They are midway between photorealistic and pictograms, ends up looking childish, tacky, unpolished. John Ive has a minimalist approach on hardware that works really well, because the hardware is not at the center, it's the software. But on UIs, you can't be too minimal, since you only have one sense to work with (vision), so you have to work with strokes, textures, depth and color (the full gamut, you're not limited to primary colors). It has better usability in many areas, but it was a bad idea making a 180 degree turn on the UI design with Ive at the wheel. Jobs would never let this out so unpolished.
shurcooL 13y ago
Strange, am I the only one who likes it?

ookblah 13y ago

Totally agree, when you see the screenshots all you see is white. I understand moving away from skeuomorphism but it doesn't feel distinctive anymore.

kibibu 13y ago
As opposed to the Generic Blue Square icons Apple used for everything previously? iOS < 7 had totally non-distinctive icons for Safari, Mail, App Store, Weather and Stocks. I don't think a lack of distinction compared to previous editions is a valid complaint here.

megablast 13y ago

This SDK icon is only to be used for the presentation. They certainly have gone for a very bright look.

frewsxcv 13y ago

The Mail and Newsstand are my least favorite

pazimzadeh 13y ago

The Settings icon is terrible as well, compared to the current one. http://cl.ly/PYkr http://cl.ly/PYkr

hpagey 13y ago
yea, I might faint if I look at it long enough.

stesch 13y ago

The pictures of iOS7 on the white iPhone look like those iPhone fakes from Asia.

infinia 13y ago

The more I see screenshots, the less I like it. I agree the icons look amateur. The padding inside the edges of the icons is too small. I also don't like the color palette, they are far too in-your-face and gaudy.

miguelrochefort 13y ago

They tried to get away from skeuomorphism, but still some remains. Just look at PassBook or the ugly 3D browsing through tabs. The whole design simply is not well thought out. This has clearly been rushed, which is not something I expect from Apple. If iOS 7 was leaked, people wouldn't believe it's the real thing. Sadly, it is. I'm staying with Windows Phone.

drpancake 13y ago
I'm not sure if flipping through 3D browser tabs mimics a real-life affordance.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- mortenjorck 13y ago
  The limited flat/skeu vocabulary doesn't have a word for it, but it's what I'd call a depth cue. (If you'll indulge me linking to my own article, I've tried to lay out a better framework here: http://interuserface.net/2013/05/flat-is-not-the-opposite-of-skeuomorphic/ http://interuserface.net/2013/05/flat-is-not-the-opposite-of...)
- adw 13y ago
  It's a card index. (I happen to think it's a decent metaphor, but whatever, it's Internet Hate Week today.)
- dsego 13y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZZLvVTWuJM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZZLvVTWuJM
midnitewarrior 13y ago
I didn't know what Microsoft meant in their description of Windows Phone as "Authentically Digital" until I just saw the ugly bombshell Apple just left. The new iOS looks half-baked, they can't do anything too bold, else they lose their metaphors, yet they can't do anything radical like Microsoft did without redefining their platform and re-educating their users. Run away. Fast.

Geee 13y ago

Maybe they left some rubber duckies in there to remove later followed by huge applauses ;) I like the overall new style, however a bit of redefining here and there would be good, like some of the icons. Great update.

grbalaffa 13y ago

Skeuomorphic vs. flat is a red herring. Either one can be tastefully or tastelessly done. Today's iOS 7 unveil was unfortunately the latter. The sad truth is: once Steve Jobs passed on, the quality of designs coming out of Apple started to decline. The ousting of Scott Forstall and the rumored eschewing of anything resembling skeuomorphic design was heralded as the coming of a great new era, however now that we can see the first results it's apparent that Apple is no longer capable of producing great design at all, no matter where it lands on the skeu vs. flat spectrum. The new designs are still as ugly as the Forstall-era stuff; it's just a different kind of ugly. It makes me really sad, because the original iPhone was an incredible triumph that led the way of the industry for the next several years. I fear we will not see something of such high quality for a very long time after this. Nothing will change until there is once again someone in place at the top of Apple's hierarchy who can enforce the notion of good taste, regardless of the current fashion or style.

coldtea 13y ago

>Look at the SDK icon. That is ugly. It's ugly because nobody gives a fuck about the SDK icon. It's not even an icon anyway -- there's no "SDK" app. It's just a picture they put on the slides to represent the new SDK. Don't you think if you want to make sweeping statements you'd better start with the icons people will actually see everyday? How about the home screen?

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

The icons are awful. They are midway between photorealistic and pictograms, ends up looking childish, tacky, unpolished. John Ive has a minimalist approach on hardware that works really well, because the hardware is not at the center, it's the software. But on UIs, you can't be too minimal, since you only have one sense to work with (vision), so you have to work with strokes, textures, depth and color (the full gamut, you're not limited to primary colors). It has better usability in many areas, but it was a bad idea making a 180 degree turn on the UI design with Ive at the wheel. Jobs would never let this out so unpolished.

shurcooL 13y ago

Strange, am I the only one who likes it?