parislemon:

Tim Green:

To me, there is a distinct movement towards a particular style and I would be very surprised if Apple were ignorant of it. It’s not “flat design” per se and it’s certainly nowhere near the “Metro” levels that people are suggesting they may follow, but it’s a mellowing out of the visual indicators that people need to trigger the idea of a tappable element. Why? Because this is not 2007 anymore, and we are all now fully aware of the medium and the process; we don’t need to be led garishly by the hand. There is still a sense of depth and tactility but done in a refined and suggestive way, sensitive to the changed perceptions that people have of interacting with touchscreens.

That’s something important not being talked about nearly enough in all this “Apple is moving towards flat design” chatter: it’s not that flat design is necessarily “better”, it’s that Apple can start changing some things now because so many people have become accustomed to using the iPhone (and smartphones in general) over the past 5+ years. Not as much hand-holding in the design is required. Apple no longer has to try as hard to make new users think they’re just doing something like pressing a bunch of buttons on a screen. Hopefully that’s liberating for the design team.

I’m not sure of the best way to identify the (what seems to be default) graphical effect on iOS app icons that makes the upper half of the icon shinier than the bottom half, but I can’t wait until I never see it again. Most of the apps I have installed don’t have it, and the few that do are made by Apple, my local bank, and a few others who I won’t name as to not embarrass them (but they might want to spend a bit of the $1.1 billion on removing the needless chrome).

The skeuomorphic trick never sold me. Was the icon supposed to be bulbous, extending out and catching some frontward light source? Where is this eternally-rising sun?

The second icon seen here makes a lot more sense. There are still shadows and gradients creating the sense of three dimensions, but it’s much less dated.

Challenge:

For the next week whenever someone tells a story at your workplace, respond with this question as seriously as possible.

(Source: thexfiles)