iOS7 Design: Yay or Nay?

Apple finally bared its highly-anticipated iOS7 which sports a “stunning new user interface” according to CEO Tim Cook. It’s the first major design overhaul Apple did on the iOS since its first appearance in 2007. It boasts of a lot of new and useful features that Apple has been missing over the years, but did the new design fare?

Observe the new design of the iOS7.

Gone are the slightly detailed and raised icons in favor of flatter ones. However, I’m not seeing the consistency across the icons. For example, Photos, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, and Game Center have plain white background but Camera and Settings doesn’t. I think they also overdid it with those psychedelic gradients.

It seems that the icons have been designed by different people. We see the Camera, Weather, and Newsstand having that “clip-art” look. Notes and Reminders looked very elementary unlike the smart design on the Passbook. Things should now be flatter but Game Center still has that 3D look. And check out the Settings icon, somehow it looks like a stove burner to me.

iOS has elements with redesigned typography, having big and thin fonts on white background, like what Microsoft has been doing with some of their products. We can see this heavily implemented in Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Clock. It looks good although there are also apps that have regular Arial font on white background.

The Camera’s video record button looks comically out of place with its design. While the Safari buttons looked like something taken from the pages of Android’s design book.

Overall, it seems that too much cooks spoiled the broth on this one. It looks like Windows Phone’s UI on LSD with some childish-looking icons thrown in the mix. From the design standpoint, it’s a disappointment for a company that has always been known to make good-looking products. Personally, I like the well-thought of and carefully designed look of the old iOS more. At least we’re finally getting Control Center.

So what do you think of iOS7’s looks?

iOS7 Design: Yay or Nay? originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines’ Longest-running Technology Blog on June 14, 2013.