Filip Novotny Although new features are added to iOS with each major update, the overall design of the system has remained the same for many years. On the main screen remains a pile of icons representing installed applications, which borrow their form from real objects in terms of design. However, according to some sources, this should change soon.
Several people who had the opportunity to get acquainted with the upcoming iOS 7 expect big changes in the new system. It should be "very, very flat" in design. All shiny surfaces and especially the controversial "skeuomorphism" should disappear from the user interface. This means making applications look like their real counterparts, for example using textures like leather or linen.
Sometimes this fascination with real objects goes so far that designers use them at the expense of comprehensibility and ease of use. Some users these days may not understand why the Notes app looks like a yellow notepad or why the Calendar is skinned. A few years ago, these metaphors may have been appropriate, but since then a lot of time has passed and smartphones have reached a completely different position. In our world, they have become a matter of course, and for their comprehensibility it is no longer necessary to use references to real (sometimes outdated) counterparts. In some cases, the use of skeuomorphism is downright harmful.
But a radical departure from it could mean a big hit for long-time iOS users who are used to the system in its current form. Apple relies heavily on the simplicity and intuitiveness of its use and boasts about it even on its website dedicated to the advantages of the iPhone. Therefore, the Californian company cannot make such design changes that would make its software more difficult to use in any way.
Still, sources inside Apple say that while the design of the updated system will be surprising to existing users, it won't compromise the ease of use one bit. While iOS 7 looks different, basics like the home or unlock screen still work very similarly. The changes in the new iOS, which is codenamed Innsbruck, will involve the creation of a set of completely new icons for default applications, a new design of various navigation bars and tabs, and other controls.
Why is Apple coming up with these changes now? The reason may be the increasing competition in the form of mass Android or design-quality Windows Phone. But the main reason is much more practical. After the departure of the vice president for iOS Scott Forstall, Jony Ive was in charge of software design, who until now had only focused on designing hardware.
In doing so, Forstall and Ive embody two radically different views of good user interface design. Scott Forstall was said to be a big supporter of skeuomorphic design, with Jony Ive and other high-ranking Apple employees being big opponents. In recent years, iOS design has taken the first possible route, as former CEO Steve Jobs sided with Scott Forstall in this dispute. According to one former Apple employee, even the texture of the Calendar app is modeled after the leather upholstery of Jobs' Gulfstream jet.
However, much has changed since Jobs' death. Scott Forstall, favored by the media, did not take the position of CEO, but the more experienced and moderate Tim Cook. He obviously could not find common ground with Forstall and his eccentric style of work; after the iOS Maps fiasco, Forstall reportedly refused to apologize and take responsibility for his mistakes. He therefore had to leave his position at Apple, and with him left the biggest supporter of skeuomorphic design.
The position of vice president for iOS remained vacant, and Forstall's duties were shared by several other high-ranking employees - Federighi, Mansfield or Jony Ive. From now on, he will be in charge of both the hardware design and the visual side of the software. Tim Cook comments on the expansion of Ivo's scope as follows:
Jony, who has the best taste and design skills of anyone in the world, is now responsible for the user interface. Check out our products. The face of every iPhone is its system. The face of every iPad is its system. Jony has done a great job designing our hardware, so now we're giving him responsibility for the software as well. Not for its architecture and so on, but for the overall design and feel of it.
Tim Cook clearly has high hopes for Jony Ivo. If he really gives him a free hand in redesigning the software, we will see changes in iOS 7 that this system has not seen before. What the final product will look like, so far, only a handful of closely guarded employees somewhere in Cupertino know. What is certain today is the inevitable end of skeuomorphic design. It will bring a nicer and more understandable operating system to users, and another way for Apple's new management to distance themselves from the legacy of Steve Jobs.
Where is the calendar skin in iOS???
it is a calendar in iPads, in iPhone there is only the austere design
And on the iPhone it's in Reminders ;-) But there, it's not intrusive at all.
Notes on the iPhone are designer hell, sorry.
the only thing missing is Comic Sans data instead of Marker Felt and somewhere to implement socks in slippers
There are so many design experts here - someone should call Apple and advise them where to recruit: discussion on Jablickari :-)
It's on Mac too
For God's sake, please delete this "very high quality Windows Phone design"
Everyone complains about what a cesspool it is, and one of the few praises appears on the web like the apple tree....
I love exclamations of the type "I'm watching you all". I recommend a closer look and you may find that the design of the windows phone interface is praised not only on Jablickari.
WP design is very cool. I think their metro style fits today, it's simple and clear. But I'm not talking about the software as such - it would need a lot of changes! But the design is great. And I say that as an Apple supporter. :)
I hate the "design" of WP... It won't be very successful either... And it bothers a large group of people... It's suitable for today's time... On the contrary, it reminds me of the DOS era. Flat, monochromatic, central motif writing, but to make it not so boring, there was a flying flash.. As if some carousel turned DOS into Metro....
I agree, the Metro environment (or whatever it's officially called now) looks great. The problem is with the word *looks*. Whenever I see screenshots of WP or W8, I'm envious - the beautiful flat design, the beautiful typography, the beauty without unnecessary frames and reflections and similar nonsense.
But then I'll try to use some of that Metro miracle and I'll sober up quickly. Once you get past the splash screen with its beautiful and easy-to-use tiles, Metro becomes a pain. It is not clear what is just a text label, what is a text field, what is a button. It is not clear where to click, what to do. Often with many applications I have no idea what I can do. Unfortunately, the standard environment of the latest Android has a similar problem, albeit to a lesser extent.
Don't try it on yourself - us computer geeks usually know and wait where the button will be or what the text field must be. But put a normal person next to it and it's lost. Buttons that are clearly buttons because they are shiny bulging objects have their own charm.
The current iOS design is already slightly outdated. But it's still absolutely gorgeous at first glance understandable and usable. I've verified many times that when I sit someone unfamiliar with iOS, they usually don't have more serious problems. It's more or less lost on Android, I've completely given up on testing Windows 8 on people, because I get lost and happy in them and I have only one nerve - but they look great!
Here again, I completely agree.
Yeah, I agree too
I agree, most Metro previews are only for that first and splash screen. It looks nice in the picture. But just drive further and hell begins, monstrous titles that do not fit on the screen, merging lists, repulsive square icons with simplified motifs, disgusting switches (on/off), etc. In addition to the above-mentioned lack of clarity of individual elements. And after a look, even the initial screen is not pretty. Win 8 (whether phone or desktop) is definitely not a design-friendly system and user experience is absolute misery (especially desktop).
Prettier and more understandable? On the one hand, you know fart if it will be nicer...however, it's a subjective thing and in the end what made Apple's system more comprehensible even for the net will be in hell. man and what made this system Apple. Complete nonsense in the end. Although I'm looking forward to the changes, I'm afraid of the simplicity and flatness as well as the lack of color, which was also shown on OSX. Let's hope they at least keep the shading and it won't be a boring monochromatic "android".
I totally agree. Skeuomorphic Design doesn't always fit, but it's still better than "flat" failed design. Now I don't know if I should look forward to iOS 7 or fear it.. :/
The "gray" mac os bothers me especially when I open the finder. I didn't get used to that sheet with icons that are all gray and I never will get used to it. Reading the descriptions is always slower and it takes me a while to find, for example, "Applications", even though I haven't changed it in months. In short, there should be icons that are visually different (in color).
What does everyone have against skeuomorphism? And where do you get that Ive is his great opponent?
skeuomorphism as such is not bad, but what are we going to lie to ourselves when every application in iOS has a different texture, so that's scary. I think Ive said himself that he is not a fan of it
That's right, it's about textures. It has nothing to do with skeuomorphism. Thank you!
From Wikipedia:
A skeuomorph is a physical ornament or design on an object made to resemble another material or technique. Examples include pottery embellished with imitation rivets reminiscent of similar pots made of metal or a software calendar application which displays the days organized on animated month pages in imitation of a paper desk calendar.
So yes, it's a skeuomorphism.
From the same Wikipedia article:
"Skeuomorphs are deliberately employed to make the new look comfortably old and familiar, or are simply habits too deeply ingrained to wash away."
The reason why I put it there is for simple users, so that people know how to control it and understand what it does at first glance (because they are used to it). Skeuomorphism, in the sense in which Apple uses it, is to facilitate usability (UX) and not because they think it just looks better (UI).
As I said - most of the people who wink at skeuomorphism only wink at concrete textures. If you change the textures to other ones, they will like it. Therefore, the problem is in the execution (ugly texture), NOT in the concept (skeumorphism - approximating functionality by making it look like something in real life).
Even pressing the buttons after a touch is a skeuomorphism, but I haven't heard that it bothers anyone yet. I just heard people winking at the scary buttons.
It should be properly called skeuomorphic design, that it "looks like that", as Ive himself calls it. But several applications are really skeuomorphism - see iCal, where we turn the pages when moving to the next month, iBooks, or most of the system buttons, when we unload, we move the button itself, as if there was one.
But you don't move the button there, you just have to click, which is a shame :) the volume also moves, and does anyone want to say that it's better to click on +-? Turning pages is effective, but I think that many people don't expect anything like that from such a device, so it's pointless.
Wikepedia is banned at (good) universities as a source of citations for academic theses (bachelor's, diploma's), so continue to console yourself with this completely accurate source :)
I think that skeuomorphism must remain at least for icons, how else would you like to indicate a notepad icon than with a block or with a pencil, how else would you like to indicate the calendar icon, than with a calendar, etc.
It's more about the textures in the bars, etc. It should be suppressed and flattened a bit.
I agree with that, but I don't think it will affect the icons. Otherwise, I'm really looking forward to it, don't worry :D
Nice article, but please, please, please, distinguish between skeuomorphism and ugly texture. These are completely different things - if Poznamki had a nice texture, praise it again - but it has nothing to do with skeuomorphism. It's mainly about UX. But it's still just the UI that's being dealt with.
So like this - skeuomorphism is neither ugly nor beautiful, because it is not a design style! The fact that I put an ugly texture somewhere that looks like a stone is not a skeuomorphism. That would be if I could squeeze that stone and it would roll away.
UI != UX !!! Please inform yourself in advance.
skeuomorphism is a design style.
Again, if you call design anything - skeuomorphism is about UX, not UI.
skeuomorphism applies to both ui and ux. but mainly ui.
it would be good if you first found out what it actually is.
the appearance of the record is a skeuomorphism, because it is an electronic graphic imitation of a real object. these are ui elements. it has nothing to do with ux yet.
the same applies to, for example, the graphic display of a metal microphone and many other things.
and no rolling of pebbles or other behavior for ux is necessary for that.
it's a normal design "style" (stylishness and style is about 50 years outdated concept). it is a design philosophy. UI!
:-D Anyway, what is UX?
UI: I make things to look good for people.
UX: I make things so that people can better understand and use them.
Of course it goes hand in hand, but as I say. UX is how a button behaves when you press it. The UI is whether the button is green or blue. Apple puts skeuomorphism there for UX, not UI. I do it so that people understand how the thing is used (because I know it from real life). I'm not putting it there just to make it look 'nice' ;-)
And design is such a general concept that it can interfere with both, so it doesn't help us much to distinguish between them.
UX is user experience. overall impression of using the device.
but I don't know what you meant by that.
it is a transcription of an article from 9to5mac
Personally, I've always liked Skeuomorphic Design because it was nowhere to be seen when it first appeared at Apple. But I have to agree that it creates confusion. Every application looks different, I would like to unify it somehow. OS X would also need such a change, there is a similar problem there.
I'm really looking forward to the new iOS 7 design, it might look similar to the music player from iOS 6 - simple gray and black.
Please explain to me, as a layman, what is skeuomorphism. Thank you in advance
Taking the form of a physical thing in a (pseudo) realistic form to represent something digital. You need the mentioned dog in the calendar. In general, it's quite humus - it's comical at a time when no one uses the original anymore, but their image is still hidden in the software.
So I just hope that Apple doesn't go the way of Android or expensive WP. The design of the system is what attracted me to the iPad and not another Android tablet. I couldn't imagine having something like Metro on my screen. Well, phew
Thank you! You managed to formulate it a hundred times better than me. But this is what I'm trying to say here all the time.
The design of the iPhone was beautiful at the time it was created. Round edges, imitation of glass reflections, color transitions, similar to Win Vista (it still reminds me of the graphics). But times are different and so is the trend in design, everything started to be simplified (Win 7), imitations of everything, color transitions, etc. slowly started to disappear. Now everyone focuses more on clean design (simple colors without transitions, without reflections, shadows and typography - big names, names - Windows Phone). After the arrival of windows phone, android also adapted and in version 4.0 they threw away old design elements, now it is time for Apple with its iOS to adapt to the current trend. I like the design of WP more, so I'm curious what Apple will do with all this ;) Let's be surprised.
In other words:
"Windows historically sets a design trend, including Windows Phone in the field of smartphones, and everyone else is already smartly adapting to it, or at least they should..."
I also like the tiled and color minimalistic style of WP, but it is by no means a major current trend / design direction…
It is one of the possible ways, but I dare to say that for Apple, only in relation to the nature of the hardware, completely unsuitable!
Step 1: make it stop looking gross.
Step 2: to use it at the level of 2013.
I'll probably take the iP4S out of storage for a test again in the summer.
And what do you think is at the level of 2013? Stargate ? I mean of course the premiere Asgardian version :)
Calm down Jirko, the man probably has an ultra-talent for design...
The ability to transfer data between applications other than by scratching with the left foot behind the right ear.
Usable keyboard.
Quick setup of basic things.
Gestures for everyday activities.
Such things, which already work elsewhere and do not require any space technology because of them...
At first I was also a supporter of UI design as flat as possible, but more and more I am starting to lean more towards plastic design, for the reason that even if it is only SW elements, the human brain is better oriented in a plastic environment as it is In reality. It's just the way the brain works. However, this does not mean that the UI has to be driven to the point of cheesiness. A shaded sw button is ok, but artificial stitches or tattered old calendar pages are not. Because unlike that, buttons don't add any useful value to the UX. It's actually just a decoration.
If Ive removes the decorations that make no sense but keeps the visual appeal, there's nothing to worry about. If he goes about it in the style of Google or MS and just makes a flat environment without thinking, the UX will suffer. And those who disagree, we will tell each other after a few months of use.
Also note Regarding skeumorphism: skeumorphism does not mean leatherette or a yellow notebook, skeumorphism is even the non-flat calculator, as long as it preserves the layout of the classic calculator.
But "before" is nicer! This is how everything will look like iTunes. Oh no.
Otherwise excellently explained, although here probably everyone has in mind skeumorphistic textures rather than the meaning itself.
If it's going to be like the subway, you'll be happy, broom... Otherwise, the highly criticized skeumorphism here has never bothered me, and I think it is one of the basic faces in the thinking and legacy of Apple, because Steve has always been inspired by what we all know and also by nature. You're going to tell me OS X won't be named after felines….. :(
Well done, it looks like the fall in stocks has a reason... Or when hardware makes software...
"Design-quality Windows phone" - I think we all mean something different by the term design.
The article is good, there are a lot of relevant comments, but apart from the wiki citation and the details about the names of Apple, I did not find out what kind of changes are actually planned in iOS7, apart from general information about the change in the UI.... wouldn't there be more specific information?
Unfortunately, no.