“My eyes!!! It felt like someone had dragged a cheese grater across my eyeballs when I saw the iOS 7 home screen, with its horrendous icons that looked like they were designed by a committee from the National Association of Gals (NAG) or…gasp!…Lisa Frank! Yes, iOS 7 comes perilously close to looking like Lisa Frank’s ‘Stuff Girls Love’ site,” Jim Lynch blogs. “The minute that you enter the iOS 7 home screen, you realize that it has been designed for a gaggle of giggling 13 year old girls. Most of the icons are a mishmash of pastels that exude emotionally incoherent inconsistency.”
“The color scheme is almost unbearable if you’re a man that appreciates the stronger, richer and more detailed icons in iOS 6. The first time you see the iOS 7 icons, it feels like somebody kicked you in the balls with no warning and for absolutely no reason,” Lynch writes. “There’s a real gender issue with the iOS 7 icon color scheme. The iOS 7 beta icons practically ooze estrogen! The manly, solid colors and design found in iOS 6 have been chopped off as viciously as Lord Varus’ balls and cock in Game of Thrones. In short, iOS 7 is a clam-o-rama of soft pastels that overwhelm male eyeballs, while bathing men in a sea of soft, limp nothingness.”
Lynch writes, “The Game Center icon is…bubbles. Ugly, girlish pastels-from-hell-bubbles. Yuck! First of all, what do bubbles have to do with gaming? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Second, gaming is known as one of the few communities that is still mostly masculine in its perspective and sensibilities. So what was Apple thinking by slicing off Game Center’s balls like this? It seems pretty clear that Johnny Ives and his designers have ZERO knowledge about the sensibilities of gamers. I suspect that none of them is a gamer, and probably could care less about inflicting this dick-less version of Game Center on male iOS gamers.”
MacDailyNews Take: To illustrate his argument, Lynch uses the Apple screenshot example seen below on the left. An iPhone 5 running iOS 7 owned by one of our male staffers is on the right:
Jim Lynch’s canned iOS 7 example on the left vs. a MacDailyNews iPhone 5 running iOS 7 on the right.
“If this is Johnny Ives’ work then it seems pretty clear that Scott Forstall was the alpha male at Apple. Or maybe it was Steve Jobs, or Jobs and Forstall together who put a masculine stamp on iOS? Either way, it’s pretty clear that iOS has totally lost its balls in iOS 7. What exactly does Ives have against men, anyway?” Lynch asks. “Let’s not forget Tim Cook here either. There’s no doubt that Cook had to go along with feminization of iOS, he’s the CEO of Apple and has final say in any changes to iOS. It’s long been rumored that he’s gay, and that’s fine. But come on, Tim! There are all kinds of gay guys out there, some gay guys are very masculine in their sensibilities. After seeing iOS 7, I’m betting that Tim Cook isn’t one of them. Come on, Tim! Butch it up a little bit please, and fix this mess before it’s unleashed on the male public.”
“I wonder if Apple is aware of any of this? Did they give any thought at all to how iOS 7 would be perceived by men that aren’t San Francisco or New York metrosexual types? I doubt it. If they had then they might have at least offered an alternative color scheme more suitable for masculine men,” Lynch writes. “Yeah folks, iOS 7 really is that bad visually. Your mileage may vary, however. Especially if you are a thirteen year old girl, metrosexual beta male, or a member of NAG. iOS 7 screams ‘girl power!’ and I suspect it will have a lot of men running for the exits to Android or Windows Phone, if the final release looks the same as the beta.”
We haven’t seen this much misogyny since the last meeting of the He-Man Woman Haters Club – for which – forget Alfalfa – we hereby nominate Jim Lynch for president!
(Good Jobs, we hope Lynch’s intention was to be satirical.)
All his emotionally comments missed the points. Colors, icons, these are simple design elements that’s easy to update. What we should really looking is the design rules, design thinkings and what it suggests for abrand new iOS. Some thoughts: http://linwangge.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/what-exactly-apple-did-with-ios-7/
Well, iOS 7 seems more like the taste of a 10-year-old girl to me (rather than a 13-year-old). But, after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that I don’t have to personally identify with the color scheme. I think of it like a very cute daughter. It will be pleasant having her around, and I’m secure enough that I couldn’t care less if my phone screen seems “girly” to others. (Though I can’t imagine too many males in their teens and twenties will see it the same way.)
Here’s what i wrote on his blog…so the other closeted “masculine” men with beards will know…
“so basically you are saying you are too insecure as a man in your masculinity to use iOS7.
Your whole article denigrates femininity, stating iOS7 was designed by and for pre-teen girls and now you backpedal saying there is nothing wrong with femininity as long as it’s not on my manly iPhone. You have serious issues man, I would consult a therapist, unless you think a blog is therapy. Nice to see you live vicariously through your manly iPhone you had no part in designing, producing or input what-so-ever. Sorry to hear your bro-mance is over.
Apparently the iPhone is an extension of your penis. I’d say just go ahead and go get a Galaxy 4 so you can at least brag that it is 5”.
With the title of your article (which is insult to real writers that actually write articles with substance, instead of this petty, and yes juvenile, even more juvenile than the girls you think iOS7 is designed for drivel) it is clearly just another drive-by hit whore piece, but that would an insult to real whores which clearly have more class than you represent in this “article”.
And to top it off you bring Tim Cook’s sexuality into this as if that was a factor in the design. I mean come on, this is 2013, not 1913, try to act appropriately. The fact you even bring up Cook’s sexual preference in an opinion piece about the design of iOS7 clearly shows your personal closeted issues, your level of maturity and the fact that homosexual men can act/rise to a level of masculinity, obviously you speak from personal experience. “
this dude is pissed off from the last time he tried to get in touch with his feminine side…………and was stuck in the bathroom for an hour and a half putting on his “face”
They are arguing about the meaning of the colour of each other’s car, and how it informs their essential identity and place in their social group. It’s the “personal” in personal computing. They’re insisting on their desired shade of nail polish. The thing has attained the status of an entitlement program, and they should be ashamed.
Pastel colors?! iOS 7 makes use of varying combinations of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors from the basic RGB color wheel. There is nothing pastel about the colors in iOS 7. Lynch sounds like your run-of-the-mill “Make the logo bigger and fill the white space with more text!” kinda guy.
To much pink? Really? Care to point out where all the pink is? I’ve copied the preview screen into my photos, and I have it open right now, on my iP5, exactly as it will appear when installed, and I can see precisely one app icon with pink in it, which shades to mauve at the bottom; the iTunes Store app.
Music is rich red/orange, other than that, the predominant colour palate is blue-green. Everybody seems to conveniently forget that the wallpaper is easily changed; for those wishing to reinforce their overwhelming masculinity, you can use the Mötörhead logo instead.
Or a nice photo of your own dick…
Something that nobody here seems to have picked up on, you can take a 360 degree pano photo, set it for your wallpaper, then as you turn, the pano will move across the background.
The type used, Helvetica Neue, is actually larger than the current type, which is also white, so why is the type such an issue for so many? If you have a light wallpaper, then of course white text is less readable. Easy answer? Use a darker wallpaper, for Chris’sakes!
Truly, there are some really dimwitted people on here. (Rolls eyes).
Splendid riposte! I appreciate what you say. You are objective, observant. Too many others are shrill, negligent. Continue your sternness, it is needed.
He’s not wrong, folks. The color scheme needs some work. Hence ‘beta’. I don’t know if I would have gone overboard with it as he did, as he should know most people wouldn’t know a joke if it hit him in the face, but I get his point.
It is disturbing to realized that there are so many philistines in our world! They have fixed mindset oriented in the past, even violating the first law of nature ” The Only Constant Is Change”! They should rather strive to learn and understand the very essence of shapes and colors.
“you realize that it has been designed for a gaggle of giggling 13 year old girls. Most of the icons are a mishmash of pastels that exude emotionally incoherent inconsistency.”
The whole premise of the article is wrong at its core. There are inherent differences in preference between men and women which are true to greater or lesser degrees on an individual basis, obviously, but leaving aside for a moment Lynch’s sexism and adolescent brain, he’s just wrong on the content. Yes, some of the color choices in iOS 7 seem to be more in keeping with what we generalize as feminine, but the flatness, the starkness, the more cold and businesslike nature of iOS 7 is much more typically masculine than it is feminine. One of the most often heard complaints about the skeuomorphism that has been cast aside was that it existed to make the OS feel more hospitable and cozy to people like… umm… dare I say, 13 year old girls and women. Yes, some of the imagery was masculine, but the textures, the softness, the touchable feel of the icons and controls, were all designed to pull in an audience which is uncomfortable with cold grey windows and text based controls.
Here, in iOS 7, we have a mobile operating system which sheds the touchy and feely in its controls and functions. Apple has decided that the world is now acquainted with the operation of touch based devices, and that the functions can be less adorned, more utilitarian, more manly, if you will. Gone are the gooey text bubbles in Messages. Who do you think was more pleased by the cuteness of that, now vanquished? Men? Gone is the pretty flower in the Photos icon. Was that put there for men? I say to you that much of the old revered iOS was created with the very idea of making it appealing to those who would more likely have been put off by a purely functional interface, including, but not limited to, women.
So what have they done? They’ve stripped some femininity from the implementation of functions, made them harder and colder, but given it back in depth. The icons are flat and less touchable, but they float above something beautiful. Apple has merely traded. There is still a balance. Function has tilted one way, the experience another. Textures are found in different dimensions from where they were before. I don’t like the new icons, but not because they seem less manly. I’m more bothered by the fact that they are more Windows-like, condescending to me as a user with their PlaySkool colors. Feminine? Maybe, but they harken more to my memories of building blocks and jumbo crayons than they do to things girlish.
Outstanding analysis. Would brave Achilles have recoiled from such displays? How about Hector, or Agamemnon? I think not. The Trojan War was fought not over Helen’s choice of décolletage, but over Helen herself.
Now everybody keep your pants on!!! Step away from the window. Though I myself do not love this new design or even like it, does anyone even remember the first iteration of osx and how it was all watery and how it has evolved well I believe os7 will evolve into a more earthy looking os more akin to male sensibilities. Hell one can eventually just jailbreak it and do what one wants with it and if that never pans out well maybe just maybe my next phone WILL remain a 4 or a new android or windows phone. That would be sad but hey when your girlfriend or wife shows you the door you just go, right?
Photos – now proud as a peacock or is that the NBC logo either way it represents a colour wheel not photos
Game Center – another failed icon – looks more like PartyLand helium filled birthday balloons or gum balls in other words conveys the wrong communication – thats what graphics are – communication
Compare the amount of detail in Clocks and Camera to the overly simplified Messages and Weather. Notes is stripped down yet still conveys something relating to a note pad, reminders what the heck man
Calandar – uhmmmm dull
Passbook – lets shrink icons so tiny only a retina screen can display this icon – irresponsible design
Settings – now takes the sophisticated look of an inner pocket watch – extremely detailed and out of place
Newsstand – hello did you get your daughter to make this icon Ives?
if Mail can have so many extra lines to define an envelope, why can the phone not have some parting lines too
Safari – is unsophisticated thats a basic compass yet look at the Compass App – overly detailed
Oh my lord, please, someone tell me the truth. This wasn’t done by Jony Ives. It not good work. Tim is confident Jony taste is the best huh. Come on. Its inconsistent work. Its all over the place. In deed it’s a mess. T
his is an embarrassment to Apple and it’s irresponsible as to graphic communication, iconography and user interface design.
Thankfully, iOS has developed great features though.
What a freakin’ joke Apple. It sucks. And, I am embarrassed to update my iPhone 5 – super slick sexy $700.00 phone now to such an immature unsophisticated Ui.
Some people’s taste is in their mouth. Now I think Jony Ives is HOT and understands simplicity and elegance. But I don’t think these things were not consumer tested. Maybe Neanderthals won’t buy the best phone in the world because its too colorful but the Samsung and Windows desktops or mindless and cheap looking.
That’s his opinion. I was feeling the same as many others about apple until the keynote and I was pleased with it! I’ve been using Mac since the 90’s, maybe late compare to many of you guys but I know what I like and want! Whoever doesn’t it, pick something else, or shut the F up. Very simple!
All misogyny and stereotyping aside, I admit that I, too, don’t like the new look. If iOS started this way, most of us would count iOS 6 to be a more mature, elegant, and sophisticated appearance (excluding perhaps some of the skeuomorphisms).
MDN’s screenshot ‘take’ further illustrates the point, although I think they were trying to say that it could be ‘manned up’ with the version on the right. I still think it looks tacky and, immature, and underdeveloped. I wish Apple had given a choice of icon appearances (new vs old), while still adding all the new functionality. I have a concern that some people will withhold from upgrading just as happened with Windows 8. If I upgrade, for the first time since 1984 it will be with reluctance.
And here I thought I was a 50 yr old male. I hadn’t realized until I saw iOS7 that I was actually a 13 yr old girl!
Scott, let’s play Barbies!
All his emotionally comments missed the points. Colors, icons, these are simple design elements that’s easy to update. What we should really looking is the design rules, design thinkings and what it suggests for abrand new iOS. Some thoughts:
http://linwangge.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/what-exactly-apple-did-with-ios-7/
Well, iOS 7 seems more like the taste of a 10-year-old girl to me (rather than a 13-year-old). But, after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that I don’t have to personally identify with the color scheme. I think of it like a very cute daughter. It will be pleasant having her around, and I’m secure enough that I couldn’t care less if my phone screen seems “girly” to others. (Though I can’t imagine too many males in their teens and twenties will see it the same way.)
Lynch is a closet metrosexual beta (she)male! Nani nani boo booh!
Here’s what i wrote on his blog…so the other closeted “masculine” men with beards will know…
“so basically you are saying you are too insecure as a man in your masculinity to use iOS7.
Your whole article denigrates femininity, stating iOS7 was designed by and for pre-teen girls and now you backpedal saying there is nothing wrong with femininity as long as it’s not on my manly iPhone. You have serious issues man, I would consult a therapist, unless you think a blog is therapy. Nice to see you live vicariously through your manly iPhone you had no part in designing, producing or input what-so-ever. Sorry to hear your bro-mance is over.
Apparently the iPhone is an extension of your penis. I’d say just go ahead and go get a Galaxy 4 so you can at least brag that it is 5”.
With the title of your article (which is insult to real writers that actually write articles with substance, instead of this petty, and yes juvenile, even more juvenile than the girls you think iOS7 is designed for drivel) it is clearly just another drive-by hit whore piece, but that would an insult to real whores which clearly have more class than you represent in this “article”.
And to top it off you bring Tim Cook’s sexuality into this as if that was a factor in the design. I mean come on, this is 2013, not 1913, try to act appropriately. The fact you even bring up Cook’s sexual preference in an opinion piece about the design of iOS7 clearly shows your personal closeted issues, your level of maturity and the fact that homosexual men can act/rise to a level of masculinity, obviously you speak from personal experience. “
““so basically you are saying you are too insecure as a man in your masculinity to use iOS7.”
No. It is butt-ugly and it looks like it was designed for a 10 year old girl. I will NEVER use it unless they make it more neutral like it is now.
this dude is pissed off from the last time he tried to get in touch with his feminine side…………and was stuck in the bathroom for an hour and a half putting on his “face”
What the hell is wrong with pastel?
Or translucence, or parallax?
Don’t be so small minded
They are arguing about the meaning of the colour of each other’s car, and how it informs their essential identity and place in their social group. It’s the “personal” in personal computing. They’re insisting on their desired shade of nail polish. The thing has attained the status of an entitlement program, and they should be ashamed.
This is nothing to talk about.
The iOS 7 beta is a “rough” draft of the new direction Apple is taking.
When Apple is done with it, it will be totally different and will kick everyone’s ass.
Don’t speak if you don’t know what you are talking about.
Lynch pawn in game of life. Go get you some of that Android goodness.
Pastel colors?! iOS 7 makes use of varying combinations of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors from the basic RGB color wheel. There is nothing pastel about the colors in iOS 7. Lynch sounds like your run-of-the-mill “Make the logo bigger and fill the white space with more text!” kinda guy.
I agree completely with Lynch. There is too much pink and other ‘chick’ colors in it. As such, I will NEVER update my iPhone with it.
To much pink? Really? Care to point out where all the pink is? I’ve copied the preview screen into my photos, and I have it open right now, on my iP5, exactly as it will appear when installed, and I can see precisely one app icon with pink in it, which shades to mauve at the bottom; the iTunes Store app.
Music is rich red/orange, other than that, the predominant colour palate is blue-green. Everybody seems to conveniently forget that the wallpaper is easily changed; for those wishing to reinforce their overwhelming masculinity, you can use the Mötörhead logo instead.
Or a nice photo of your own dick…
Something that nobody here seems to have picked up on, you can take a 360 degree pano photo, set it for your wallpaper, then as you turn, the pano will move across the background.
The type used, Helvetica Neue, is actually larger than the current type, which is also white, so why is the type such an issue for so many? If you have a light wallpaper, then of course white text is less readable. Easy answer? Use a darker wallpaper, for Chris’sakes!
Truly, there are some really dimwitted people on here. (Rolls eyes).
Splendid riposte! I appreciate what you say. You are objective, observant. Too many others are shrill, negligent. Continue your sternness, it is needed.
He’s not wrong, folks. The color scheme needs some work. Hence ‘beta’. I don’t know if I would have gone overboard with it as he did, as he should know most people wouldn’t know a joke if it hit him in the face, but I get his point.
It is disturbing to realized that there are so many philistines in our world! They have fixed mindset oriented in the past, even violating the first law of nature ” The Only Constant Is Change”! They should rather strive to learn and understand the very essence of shapes and colors.
Lot of knee jerking going on for a beta product that will likely go through multiple revisions and look very different in a few months when it ships.
I like his Lynch’s prose style.
“you realize that it has been designed for a gaggle of giggling 13 year old girls. Most of the icons are a mishmash of pastels that exude emotionally incoherent inconsistency.”
good stuff.
Fundamentally, the marksman aims at himself. We love and hate in others what we love and hate in ourselves.
This guy’s got more baggage than a nine mile Pullman out’a Buffalo.
The whole premise of the article is wrong at its core. There are inherent differences in preference between men and women which are true to greater or lesser degrees on an individual basis, obviously, but leaving aside for a moment Lynch’s sexism and adolescent brain, he’s just wrong on the content. Yes, some of the color choices in iOS 7 seem to be more in keeping with what we generalize as feminine, but the flatness, the starkness, the more cold and businesslike nature of iOS 7 is much more typically masculine than it is feminine. One of the most often heard complaints about the skeuomorphism that has been cast aside was that it existed to make the OS feel more hospitable and cozy to people like… umm… dare I say, 13 year old girls and women. Yes, some of the imagery was masculine, but the textures, the softness, the touchable feel of the icons and controls, were all designed to pull in an audience which is uncomfortable with cold grey windows and text based controls.
Here, in iOS 7, we have a mobile operating system which sheds the touchy and feely in its controls and functions. Apple has decided that the world is now acquainted with the operation of touch based devices, and that the functions can be less adorned, more utilitarian, more manly, if you will. Gone are the gooey text bubbles in Messages. Who do you think was more pleased by the cuteness of that, now vanquished? Men? Gone is the pretty flower in the Photos icon. Was that put there for men? I say to you that much of the old revered iOS was created with the very idea of making it appealing to those who would more likely have been put off by a purely functional interface, including, but not limited to, women.
So what have they done? They’ve stripped some femininity from the implementation of functions, made them harder and colder, but given it back in depth. The icons are flat and less touchable, but they float above something beautiful. Apple has merely traded. There is still a balance. Function has tilted one way, the experience another. Textures are found in different dimensions from where they were before. I don’t like the new icons, but not because they seem less manly. I’m more bothered by the fact that they are more Windows-like, condescending to me as a user with their PlaySkool colors. Feminine? Maybe, but they harken more to my memories of building blocks and jumbo crayons than they do to things girlish.
Outstanding analysis. Would brave Achilles have recoiled from such displays? How about Hector, or Agamemnon? I think not. The Trojan War was fought not over Helen’s choice of décolletage, but over Helen herself.
It is a girlish direction.
Sad to say, men are marginalized.
Now everybody keep your pants on!!! Step away from the window. Though I myself do not love this new design or even like it, does anyone even remember the first iteration of osx and how it was all watery and how it has evolved well I believe os7 will evolve into a more earthy looking os more akin to male sensibilities. Hell one can eventually just jailbreak it and do what one wants with it and if that never pans out well maybe just maybe my next phone WILL remain a 4 or a new android or windows phone. That would be sad but hey when your girlfriend or wife shows you the door you just go, right?
Photos – now proud as a peacock or is that the NBC logo either way it represents a colour wheel not photos
Game Center – another failed icon – looks more like PartyLand helium filled birthday balloons or gum balls in other words conveys the wrong communication – thats what graphics are – communication
Compare the amount of detail in Clocks and Camera to the overly simplified Messages and Weather. Notes is stripped down yet still conveys something relating to a note pad, reminders what the heck man
Calandar – uhmmmm dull
Passbook – lets shrink icons so tiny only a retina screen can display this icon – irresponsible design
Settings – now takes the sophisticated look of an inner pocket watch – extremely detailed and out of place
Newsstand – hello did you get your daughter to make this icon Ives?
if Mail can have so many extra lines to define an envelope, why can the phone not have some parting lines too
Safari – is unsophisticated thats a basic compass yet look at the Compass App – overly detailed
Oh my lord, please, someone tell me the truth. This wasn’t done by Jony Ives. It not good work. Tim is confident Jony taste is the best huh. Come on. Its inconsistent work. Its all over the place. In deed it’s a mess. T
his is an embarrassment to Apple and it’s irresponsible as to graphic communication, iconography and user interface design.
Thankfully, iOS has developed great features though.
What a freakin’ joke Apple. It sucks. And, I am embarrassed to update my iPhone 5 – super slick sexy $700.00 phone now to such an immature unsophisticated Ui.
Some people’s taste is in their mouth. Now I think Jony Ives is HOT and understands simplicity and elegance. But I don’t think these things were not consumer tested. Maybe Neanderthals won’t buy the best phone in the world because its too colorful but the Samsung and Windows desktops or mindless and cheap looking.
That’s his opinion. I was feeling the same as many others about apple until the keynote and I was pleased with it! I’ve been using Mac since the 90’s, maybe late compare to many of you guys but I know what I like and want! Whoever doesn’t it, pick something else, or shut the F up. Very simple!
Who is “Johnny Ives” ?
iOS 7 Looks like a Queer Eye for hr Straight Guy makeover.
This guy seems to have issues. The overhaul of the software is AMAING!! I love it ALLLLLLLL OF IT …
All misogyny and stereotyping aside, I admit that I, too, don’t like the new look. If iOS started this way, most of us would count iOS 6 to be a more mature, elegant, and sophisticated appearance (excluding perhaps some of the skeuomorphisms).
MDN’s screenshot ‘take’ further illustrates the point, although I think they were trying to say that it could be ‘manned up’ with the version on the right. I still think it looks tacky and, immature, and underdeveloped. I wish Apple had given a choice of icon appearances (new vs old), while still adding all the new functionality. I have a concern that some people will withhold from upgrading just as happened with Windows 8. If I upgrade, for the first time since 1984 it will be with reluctance.