What iOS7 should look like

Seriously.... I think the Apple iOS7 designs have some weird points, but they're overall decent enough, and hardly deserving of the shrill reactions I've seen. None of this guy's "fixes" really seems very compelling, and I'm left wondering why he bothered to write an entire blog post about them...

[and I'm no Apple fanboy, I like Android...]

martythemaniak• 13 years ago

Most of these are big improvements, mostly because his designs don't ask the user too think too much. They are a modern,but more gradual and evolutionary than Apple's.

His idea of widgets would be great way to bring them to iOS. Just an oversized button with changing text, like a little iPod nano. A simple way to make that work would be to have a little resizer when you click and hold.

BonoboBoner• 13 years ago

He absolutely nails it. There are so many things wrong with the new design, but the biggest issue is a loss of clarity. If I would hand an iOS7 device to my mother, I would not be sure, she would have an easier time with it than with an Android device. They give up so much clarity, which was their last remaining big USP.

crucifiction• 13 years ago

The thing I most dislike about iOS 7 is that it has caused every designer with a blog to write about how much better they could make iOS 7.

fudged713• 13 years ago

I doubt anyone will come out with a mockup that everyone can agree on. That being said, I think there are a few nice decisions in this mockup which I prefer over the current release.

quadratini• 13 years ago

typical designer. they just look at static mockups and don't think about interactions. okay if you have the 2x2 icon, how will other icons move relative to it when the big icon is moved around?

samuli• 13 years ago

You might want to take a look how Windows Phone 8 does it. WP8 has different size tiles and moving them around is a piece of cake.

cpursley2• 13 years ago

Exactly. WP tile resizing is fantastic. I'm not sure I could go back to iOS, even with it's app ecosystem.

jamhan• 13 years ago

IMHO this a far, far better design than Apple's. The saturated colors in Apple's design are just too garish. Some of the app and icon designs are really messed up, as the OP notes. (e.g. Notes, Calendar). How did Apple's GameCenter icon even make it past 1st draft. It is just mind-bendingly awful.

Although the configurable-size widgets are a good idea, perhaps the OP could outline how the interface should work when these are moved around (as another commenter suggested).

gte910h3• 13 years ago

Now I want you to take that brightness slider, and drop the brightness on the phone 30%. Oh look, you just bought a good chunk of extra battery life. And with the bright colors you can still see stuff.

ioanpopovici• 13 years ago

Tired of this bulshit...

cpursley2• 13 years ago

This is so much better than iOS7 that Apple should be embarrassed.

oliomel• 13 years ago

The calendar looks a lot better. I also vote up the use of the subtle buttons instead of colorful text buttons of iOS.

gte910h3• 13 years ago

This is crucial if Apple wants the OS to continue to look consistent, because there is no way all developers are going to go back and redo the icons for all of their 900 000 apps!

And this is part of the point I think about the huge change here: Old unmaintained apps will look OLD and apps with active teams behind them will not.

spacec0wb0y• 13 years ago

I like how in the :( versions the top status bar is all cluttered with low battery, gps, bluetooth, wifi etc. And the :) version is clean & minimal. Subtle persuasion! I don't think the app icons are an improvement, I dislike both. The final redesign, the lock screen, I way prefer the iOS version. The time is hard to read on the redesign.

What iOS7 should look like

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