“In case you haven’t been on the internet for a few days and missed the news, folks in the design world (and folks with eyes) are, um, conflicted about the latest iOS 7 interface and it’s brighter, flatter, pastel-ier redesign,” Angela Watercutter writes for Wired.
“So, naturally, they’ve created a Tumblr to poke fun at it, and the aesthetics of its designer, Apple SVP Jonathan Ive,” Watercutter writes. “Jony Ive Redesigns Things is the work of 26-year-old web and app designer Sasha Agapov, who launched the Tumblr shortly after the Apple Worldwide Developers conference keynote unveiling iOS 7 ended.”
Watercutter writes, “Agapov, an avid Apple fan and iPhone devotee since the first generation, adds that his blog isn’t necessarily a diss against Ive, whom he’s admired as a designer for years, but ‘I do think those icons and colors need some love and caress.’ After installing iOS 7 he said he enjoyed the improvements to the user experience but could only cope with the design’s bright colors for so long.”
Read more in the full article here.
Jony Ive Redesigns Things (caution: brutal design humor) is here.
MacDailyNews Take: A couple of things are missing on that Star Wars poster redesign. Here:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Related article:
Whose iOS 7 icons are better, Sir Jonathan Ive’s or student designer Leo Drapeau’s? – June 14, 2013
This tumblr gave me such a laugh. And, to be fair, a LOT of those redesigned logos and such actually look great and I wouldn’t be against them at all. I think Jony got it more-or-less right with his design aesthetic, even if it is different and will take some getting used to.
Jony = Jenius.
I agree. What a great tribute. I hope he sees the fun in the Tumblr posts. I definitely like many of the suggestions and thought they were excellent updates of some stale concepts.
Funny, there are no pundits complaining about how stale the Coca-Cola cans look. I wish they’d get off bashing iOS and take on some other designs which are a LOT older and more dated.
…even if it is different and will take some getting used to.
I watched through the keynote again and realized I had gotten the hang of Ive’s concepts. It works. It’s fine. It’s a step of elegance. It’s Apple.
But it’s also surprisingly simplistic, as I blether on about below.
Agapov’s parody was no tribute to Ives.
Oversimplification has been exposed for being boring, uninspiring, and lacking in meaning. Apple can, and should, retain just a little more ornate detail than the cheap copycats. Its OSes always used to do so.
I can see your point, and I see iOS7 provides us with mere catch-up features the competition has already. Yet from the minds of Apple we must give special thanks to engineering, for being responsible to efficiencies and functionality that harmonize well on iOS 7 – however, the UI design is not all there. Glad its a beta.
brave and honest +100 Mike
That in which Jonathan Ives had to say; in his speech, he sings beautifully like a Design Instructor providing us lessons on Design. We are all grateful for his lecture. And by no means, can you find it in you to possibly disagree. Why, because, it all makes beautiful sense; it flows naturally, like soothing music. It feels true and right. We are simply convinced with simplicity. And believe and trust it is the right direction.
However, we don’t see iOS7 as a new beginning. We don’t know the coding gone into things. We see features that the competitors all enjoyed long before iOS 5. We are somewhat drinking the kool-aid from the soft sell, Ives tells us, we miss the inspiring old days. Jonathan provides this inspiration better than anyone, not by designing, as we don’t see his process, only his results, but from that British accent and carefully articulated thought he sends out.
However, in contrast, iOS7 is work in progress, and we are getting a glimpse of design process. It looks familiar. All too familiar. We see the the frame of the window sill being reflected. And how dare, the competition been right? Name one feature never conceived for Android that is brand new to iOS 7? Find such explosive birth of ideas that set Apples’ on this new direction, new beginning? None really. Its al lin the speech though. The passion is there. The execution is cloned. And so the right direction seems to fail us by following the competitors ways. So admit it, Apple was missing something.
Disillusioned by the contrast of what was seen and what was heard; the direction versus the execution, though beta. Both neither compliment nor match. Yet, miraculously it works. Still, on the surface, we have these dreadful pre-installed set base of flat applications – all Apples. Icons lacking punch yet vivid in colour. Floating on translucent black or white planes. There seems to be no consistency with the range these icons present. They are not harmonious nor unified and neither coherently similar to the theme of intention. To Feel; a theme or direction, which should evoke some emotional response from the elegance and design of simplicity for us, the users, using this gorgeous device. It doesn’t jive. The mojo is there, the cocoa isn’t.
Yes, the idea behind the direction of iOS 7 is “right”.
Yet, the execution (beta) is not yet well refined a “yes”.
Apple has a theory but no answer.
With the new redesign, I don’t see at all why you wouldn’t have the option of different color palettes, like ones you can choose! Why not!?
Love how Nikki Minaj was his inspiration! Classic!
This is great humor!
Further illustrates how Jony missed the streetcar …
I don’t know what Ive was thinking. This passion for pastels is hideous beyond imagination. No matter how the functionality of iOS is improved I cannot bear to look at an iOS device that looks like someone puked crayons all over it.
The most brutal is the perfectly designed turd. Ouch.
Yeah, so Jony proved how lazy Microsoft is with Metro. Not hard. And the simplistic GUI certainly saves on battery life, which is great for strictly portable devices.
But we’re deep into the 3D graphics age. OpenGL has been integrated into OS X and iOS for yonks. So 3D becomes an integral part of the GUI when? Check back in 2023, apparently. 😛
Agree.
Disappointing look and expected 3D over anorexic Neue.
Anorexic. Thanks. I needed that adjective.
hurray,
thats the way – onnn huh onnnn huh i like it
nice post Derek
I was just thinking, if iOS would add yet another
graphic layer – perhaps a shadow layer that would counter act in the opposite direction of the parallax effect… this effect then could simulate raised edges to these flat graphics or simply cast a shadow for more depth between the layers
just an idea – yup trolling lol
Polishing a turd is utterly useless, yet some will try,
the ugly duckling becomes the most beautiful,
and everything old is new again.
Learning to love the Zune all over again?
After all, it has inspired even Jony Ives look at iOS 7.
Same Zune font
Same Zunie tunes
Same Zune time
Same Zune channel
okay corny – whatever
Don’t be surprised Apple buys Microsoft and Scotts brother, becomes the top regarded influential designer at Apple.
Stranger things have happened.
Apple is a great engineering company, no doubt about it. But their guiding light has gone, as demonstrated by iOS 7’s bubble-gum icons. There’s no way that Steve Jobs would have optimized the iPhone interface for 13-year-old girls.
Re. the redesigned Star Wars poster: EXACTLY!
think you are right about Steve not approving
the little bird told me so
That was stupid.
May be, but his skills of designing a UI for one of the most prolific products ON EARTH just suck.
Don’t use iOS 7 it’s not out yet!