OK, so the leather and the wood and the linen background and the ripped paper is gone and we now live in the Brave New World of Ive'ism. Simple lines, pastel shades and bland are Big. In time, doubtless all of Apple's apps - from Pages to Garageband to Final Cut - will be similarly Ive'd.
But Mavericks has come to us with it's own built-in apps - and for work from an internationally respected industrial designer and a company that has long associated itself with graphic art and publishing, its lacking both clarity (quickly now, find today's date in the Month view Calendar, especially on a busy month) and, more importantly, consistency and continuity with a hodge-podge of designs.
Consider: open four of the most basic apps - the aforementioned Calendar (faint lines separate weeks, not days; active week highlighted by pastel strip; weekends faintly grey; active day a slightly brighter pastel); Contacts (two columns separated by a scrollbar - the Contact list (in Bold) to the left, the active Contact to the right, entire window same colour throughout; Notes (a mix of old and new and, actually, quite clear - the list of notes in a column to the left, the active note in the right pane on a sepia background); Reminders - possibly the App That Ive Forgot - textured dark gray surrounding three windows in two columns, a mixture of window colours (greys in various shades and cranberry highlighting, a white, lined page - so much for stripping skeumorphics) to the left, its list of reminders in a fainter shade of font than Notes or Contacts.
Continuity and Consistency - the Menu Bar remains the 'traditional' light grey, the reflecting 'shelf' (or background if positioned to the side) of the Dock another shade, while the Notification panel has eschewed linen in favour of yet another shade of grey. This is an improvement?
Its sloppy - or 'too busy' as a designer I know would say. Clarity of intent is missing. Information that should be considered important isn't afforded predominance, there's too many fonts doing the same thing in different apps, there's too many visual aspects each with its own look, for no apparent reason. If it was advertising copy - a poster - for the product, it would be nightmare and customers would look elsewhere.
Good industrial design is about making a product that is simple to use and navigate and is clear in its intent - not simply to strip out what you don't like in favour of your own vision. That's not good design, that's fast fashion. Ask Microsoft how that's gone for them so far with Win8. Or many car manufacturers with their central controls panels.
Ive'ism is with us for awhile, it would seem. Maybe it will improve - lessons learned, etc. Let's hope someone at Apple has the chutzpah to say to him its just not yet good enough.
But Mavericks has come to us with it's own built-in apps - and for work from an internationally respected industrial designer and a company that has long associated itself with graphic art and publishing, its lacking both clarity (quickly now, find today's date in the Month view Calendar, especially on a busy month) and, more importantly, consistency and continuity with a hodge-podge of designs.
Consider: open four of the most basic apps - the aforementioned Calendar (faint lines separate weeks, not days; active week highlighted by pastel strip; weekends faintly grey; active day a slightly brighter pastel); Contacts (two columns separated by a scrollbar - the Contact list (in Bold) to the left, the active Contact to the right, entire window same colour throughout; Notes (a mix of old and new and, actually, quite clear - the list of notes in a column to the left, the active note in the right pane on a sepia background); Reminders - possibly the App That Ive Forgot - textured dark gray surrounding three windows in two columns, a mixture of window colours (greys in various shades and cranberry highlighting, a white, lined page - so much for stripping skeumorphics) to the left, its list of reminders in a fainter shade of font than Notes or Contacts.
Continuity and Consistency - the Menu Bar remains the 'traditional' light grey, the reflecting 'shelf' (or background if positioned to the side) of the Dock another shade, while the Notification panel has eschewed linen in favour of yet another shade of grey. This is an improvement?
Its sloppy - or 'too busy' as a designer I know would say. Clarity of intent is missing. Information that should be considered important isn't afforded predominance, there's too many fonts doing the same thing in different apps, there's too many visual aspects each with its own look, for no apparent reason. If it was advertising copy - a poster - for the product, it would be nightmare and customers would look elsewhere.
Good industrial design is about making a product that is simple to use and navigate and is clear in its intent - not simply to strip out what you don't like in favour of your own vision. That's not good design, that's fast fashion. Ask Microsoft how that's gone for them so far with Win8. Or many car manufacturers with their central controls panels.
Ive'ism is with us for awhile, it would seem. Maybe it will improve - lessons learned, etc. Let's hope someone at Apple has the chutzpah to say to him its just not yet good enough.
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