The design of iOS 7: Simply confusing?

“What I saw today at Apple’s annual WWDC event in the new iOS 7 was a radical departure from the previous design of the company’s operating system — what CEO Tim Cook called ‘a stunning new user interface,'” Joshua Topolsky writes for The Verge. “But whether this new design is actually good design, well, that’s a different story entirely.”

“Apple did indeed tout a completely rethought mobile OS, one which isn’t technically a great distance from its predecessor but is an incredible deviation on design. Gone are lush, skeuomorphic objects, dials, and textures (in fact, Apple took several potshots at itself about the faux-felt and wood textures of the iOS of yesteryear),” Topolsky writes. “Instead, they have been replaced with stark, largely white and open app spaces; colorful, almost childlike icons; pencil thin, abstract controls for settings. New, Gaussian blur-transparency layers slide over your content, creating thick smears of soft color; notifications and other incidental information float above your work area on semi-translucent panels. The icons are striking to see, and they’re the first sign that there are points of confusion and even missteps in Apple’s new approach.”

Topolsky writes, “But it’s not all a loss, or a miss. In fact, there are some extremely beautiful aspects of iOS 7 — aspects that lead me to believe that the raw materials for a more cohesive and useful OS are there, if perhaps a little buried. The typography in the majority of the apps is gorgeous, leaning heavily on Helvetica Neue and putting an emphasis on bigger, more readable type. App redesigns from the Calendar to the Camera introduce welcome changes. A new multitasker finally gets it right with what amounts to a carbon copy of the webOS card methodology. Little changes like the subtle, gyroscope-responsive parallax wallpapers, the ability to open notifications and controls on your lockscreen, and the new back gesture within apps show that Apple is still invested in the tiniest details.”

Much more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: We’ve been using iOS 7 for a day now and, yes, believe it or not, we had to learn some new things, but, even in its beta state, iOS 7 is hardly “confusing.”

In fact, as iOS 7 users, “confusing” is not among the words that spring to mind today; these are: Potential, clarity, useful, easier, and new.

Also of note: Use iOS 7 even for a minute and it becomes abundantly clear that it’s been designed for Retina displays. Use it for a day and then pick up the same model iPhone running iOS 6 and it looks and feels old.