Inconsistency
Like anyone else that followed yesterday’s keynote at WWDC’13, I expected great things from iOS 7. For weeks and weeks we had heard that the new OS would adopt a flat design, and several designers and graphic artists show promising proofs of concept that left our imagination go further than it should.
And the Apple discovered the real iOS 7. And it was pretty disgusting. Not everything, of course: Calendar and iTunes Radio show the way Apple should follow to succeed on this path. But for the most part, iOS 7 is an exercise in inconsistency.
They mix icon gradients with flat backgrounds, black backgrounds with white backgrounds on other icons. They introduce iconography at Safari (Share icon) that no one understands well untill they actually push that soft buttons and see what they do. The apply one style to one native app, and a completely different one to another.
Anyone would say each iOS 7 app has been designed by a different person.
And I really would like to know which one has been the piece of art designed by Sir Jony Ive, who seems to be winning fans with this first effort in the software area.
I really hope this is just the beginning of a journey. ‘The start of a more consistent iOS design’ as other Medium user has pointed out. Because they need to right so many wrongs that I’m affraid this could be another faux pas (a dangerous one) for a company that was specially respected and admired because of his good taste.
Start working on the consistency, Apple. And start quickly.
