Jony Ive paints a fresh, yet familiar, look for iOS 7

http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/29/jony-ive-paints-a-fresh-yet-familiar-look-for-ios-7/

Ive at iPhone 5 event (Getty Images)

According to multiple people who have either seen or have been briefed on the upcoming iOS 7, the operating system sports a redesigned user-interface that will be attractive to new iOS users, but potentially unsettling for those who are long-accustomed to the platform…

The new interface is said to be “very, very flat,” according to one source. Another person said that the interface loses all signs of gloss, shine, and skeuomorphism seen across current and past versions of iOS. Another source framed the new OS as having a level of “flatness” approaching recent releases of Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Metro” UI.

Windows Phone UI

“Flat” design is based on simplicity and pushes aside heavy textures and digital metaphors of real-life objects found in skeumorphic interfaces. “Flatness” could also point to a more streamlined interface across the entire system that can stand the test of time.

iPad’s Calendar, Reminders, and Contacts apps

For example, younger generations of iOS users may not resonate well with a yellow notepad (as found in the current iOS Notes app) or the leather-bound calendar app.

iOS has typically been regarded as an easy-to-use, intuitive operating system. The Company even seems to say as much on its iOS webpage (shown directly below). With its large user-base and market attraction, Apple obviously does not want to make any design changes that make the software more difficult to use.

Apple’s iOS site

While the look of the updated system may be surprising to some, iOS 7 is reportedly not more difficult to use than earlier versions of software platform. There is apparently no new learning curve in the same way there was no learning curve when the iPods went color. While iOS 7 does look different, its core apps and system fundamentals  (like the Lock and Home screens) mostly operate in a similar fashion to how they do today.

iOS 7 is codenamed “Innsbruck,” according to three people familiar with the OS. The interface changes include an all-new icon set for Apple’s native apps in addition to newly designed tool bars, tab bars, and other fundamental interface features across the system. iOS devices running the next-generation software reportedly have polarizing filters to decrease viewing angles of on-lookers.

OS X Notifications panel

In addition to losing the complex interface design characteristics from earlier versions of iOS, Apple has been discussing and testing ways to add more ‘glance-able’ information and system options panels, like Notification Center, to the software. While it is still uncertain if Apple will end up including such new functionality in iOS 7, or how the Company will implement the potential addition, one of the early ideas was to implement the new panels via swipes from the left and right side of an iOS device’s display. This would be similar to the gesture on Apple’s Mac trackpads for accessing Notification Center in Mountain Lion, but what, specifically, the iOS gesture could access is uncertain.

Test version of iOS 4 multitasking from 2010

Prior to announcing and launching new versions of iOS, Apple tests many various implementations for features. For example, Apple had toyed with the idea of having an Expose-like Multitasking interface for iOS 4, but ended up choosing the linen-backed bottom drawer that we are now accustomed to.

Apple’s redesigned iOS experience stems from Apple Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jony Ive now spearheading interface design. With former Senior Vice President of iOS Scott Forstall leaving Apple late last year, influence on software design was handed over to Ive. Ive is long-known as the king behind Apple’s many hardware successes like the iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Mac computers.

In an interview early last year, Ive shared his lack of connection to the software that runs on his hardware.

When I mention the fake stitching, Ive offers a wince but it’s a gesture of sympathy rather than a suggestion that he dislikes such things. At least, that’s how I read it. He refuses to be drawn on the matter, offering a diplomatic reply: “My focus is very much working with the other teams on the product ideas and then developing the hardware and so that’s our focus and that’s our responsibility. In terms of those elements you’re talking about, I’m not really connected to that.”

Matching the information about iOS 7 gaining a “flatter” interface design, a profile of Apple’s internal software design work paints Ive as against flashy, skeumorphic interfaces:

Inside Apple, tension has brewed for years over the issue. Apple iOS SVP Scott Forstall is said to push for skeuomorphic design, while industrial designer Jony Ive and other Apple higher-ups are said to oppose the direction. “You could tell who did the product based on how much glitz was in the UI,” says one source intimately familiar with Apple’s design process.

Apple’s change in interface philosophy under Jony Ive and Tim Cook is also a radical departure from Apple under Steve Jobs.

Jobs and Forstall (Image via Getty)

Jobs, according to the same profile of Apple’s design work, was, like Forstall, a proponent of life-like interfaces.

But before Forstall, it was Steve Jobs who encouraged the skeuomorphic approach, some say. “iCal’s leather-stitching was literally based on a texture in his Gulfstream jet,” says the former senior UI designer. “There was lots of internal email among UI designers at Apple saying this was just embarrassing, just terrible.”

While one of our sources paints the iOS 7 design changes as changes that will gain the appreciation of some and the surprise of others, Apple CEO Tim Cook seems excited and confident about what the company has in store. During the question-and-answer session of the Q1 2013 earnings call, responding to a question regarding Apple’s software updates for 2013, Cook said, “we feel great about what we have got in store.”

Based on Cook’s past comments and moves to further integrate both Apple’s products and its internal culture, Cook’s choice to put Ive in charge of software design also seems to stem from Cook’s admiration of integrated experiences. In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek earlier this year, Cook addressed Forstall’s ousting from Apple and Ive’s new work on software design as a way to further unify Apple’s hardware and software:

Jony [Ive, senior vice president of industrial design], who I think has the best taste of anyone in the world and the best design skills, now has responsibility for the human interface. I mean, look at our products. (Cook reaches for his iPhone.) The face of this is the software, right? And the face of this iPad is the software. So it’s saying, Jony has done a remarkable job leading our hardware design, so let’s also have Jony responsible for the software and the look and feel of the software, not the underlying architecture and so forth, but the look and feel.

Over the past couple of months, Apple seems to have been hinting at an impending shift in its software design philosophy.

Before (left) and after (right) look at Apple’s Podcasts app (Comparison by Zach Kahn/@zkahn94)

Earlier this year, Apple released an updated version of its Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad in order to simplify some design elements (comparison shown above). Prior to that recent update, the application included a physical “tape deck” interface for the user to manipulate in order to move through a podcast.

WWDC 2013 logo

Additionally, Apple’s WWDC 2013 logo, the art for the conference in which iOS 7 will be announced, has sparked speculation about flat interface design with its modern, lightweight text and other elements. Indeed, one source claims that Apple’s Game Center icon and interface materials will be somewhat akin to the colorful nature of the WWDC 2013 logo. Because of its casino-like, green-felt design, Apple’s current Game Center app has been widely panned by proponents of flat software interface design.

Apple’s homepage

Also, Apple highlights iPad and iPhone applications on its homepage that include flat-interface designs. For example, the home page touting the full-sized iPad and iPad mini highlights former Apple employee Loren Brichter’s popular Letterpress game. Letterpress has been regarded by many as a simple to use, “easy-on-the-eyes” game for its flat textured interface.

With Apple’s vibrant iOS application development community, the prospects of a redesign iOS go beyond Apple’s apps and core interface functions. Internal to the third-party iOS app community, some fear that Apple’s interface changes could deem App Store apps, that are currently built to look consistent with Apple’s own interface, outdated.

AppHero’s Jordan Satok, who has a comprehensive view of the App Store ecosystem, points out that iOS interface changes will likely not pose challenges for all developers.

“When we started building iOS apps almost 5 years ago, most apps looked the same. Apple did an amazing job designing UIKit to provide a really consistent user experience across apps,” he said. “As the App Store has grown, and the types of apps being built have evolved, designers and developers have pioneered new interface styles and concepts.”

Because many apps are picking up unique interface designs, Apple’s changes to its core software will likely not make much of a difference to these developers. Nonetheless, it is likely that once iOS 7 is announced, developers that have followed Apple’s own past iOS design trends will quickly move to enhance their App Store apps to follow some of Apple’s changes.

Apple’s next version of OS X will include some design changes, but the changes will not be as notable as the aforementioned enhancements to iOS.

Why A True 3D Desktop Would Be A Colossal Mistake

http://readwrite.com/2013/02/27/true-3d-desktop-bad-idea

The 2002 movie Minority Report committed one unforgivable sin: it made UI designers want to design interfaces like Minority Report.
The most recent example of this is the SpaceTop 3D desktop, which MIT grad student and former Microsoft intern Jinha Lee unveiled at the TED show this week in Long Beach. The user interface, which probably falls under the umbrella of beautiful, though unnecessary technology, uses a series of cameras and projected images to create a "true" three-dimensional display: users put their hands "into" their computer monitor and "grab" files and other documents, moving them around. Gestures can be used for more complex actions, essentially serving as macros. (See a video of Lee's desktop below.)
An awesome use of technology? Undeniably. Impractical? In a normal computer environment, almost certainly. And the fatal flaw? The keyboard.

Touch: Either Superfluous Or Arbitrary

For the last few days, I've continued to use the Chromebook Pixel, Google's marvelous yet massively overpriced Chromebook. It's clear what Google has done here: create a so-called "aspirational" Nexus-style device that ChromeOS developers will want to own, as well as develop for. But one of the routes that Google has chosen has included touch, a technology that adds an additional element of cost to its "Companion PC."
At this point in its development cycle, there is absolutely no reason that the Pixel should have included a touchscreen. Everything you would want to do via touch – moving windows around, repositioning the cursor, switching tabs – can be done as quickly and with more precision using the touchpad or a connected mouse. As I've noted before, touch-enabled apps like Microsoft's Contre Jour or the new ExploreTouch.ie site (which requires Windows 8, so they won't work on the Pixel) provide the best showcase of touch-enabled apps on the Web. Google has done nothing to enable them. (Is there a potential partnership here?)
What the Pixel has done, in my mind, is brilliantly demonstrate just how arbitrary Windows 8's emphasis on touch actually is. Touch redefined how Microsoft should lay out its user interface – pack the elements of the screen closely together, and fat-fingered users would become frustrated trying to distinguish between them. Instead, everything needs to be spaced out, which has the unfortunate side effect of increasing unused space.
(This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've accidentally closed tabs in Chrome because I mistakenly clicked the "X" to close them, rather than "grabbing" the title to shift them around.)
And there's the cost. As Microsoft's Tami Reller noted, the industry was caught short by the demand for touchscreen notebooks, which – and I'd agree with her – are the best way to experience Windows 8. But although prices are coming down, they're still premium devices, and cost a bit more. The true hidden cost of touch comes when you come home, sit down, at your desk, and realize that the lovely desktop monitor you invested in for Windows 7 has been rendered obsolete. Replacing it will cost about $300 more.
From an ergonomic standpoint, however, a touchscreen display is a mixed bag – at least when you're at a desk. To its credit, Microsoft designed Windows 8 so that touch feels natural; swiping left and right with a touchpad simply doesn't reproduce the experience. All-in-one PCs, which already implement touch, are perfect for Windows 8.
Otherwise, a keyboard still remains the superlative form of input for a PC. Many of you can type 60 words per minute or more. Every time your fingers move from the keyboard, in one sense, it means lost productivity. Swipe. Type. Swipe, type. You get the idea. That's precisely whey I fell in love with Tobii, an excellent eye-tracking technology which replaces your mouse with your gaze, and so neatly integrates with the keyboard.

Shackled To The Keyboard

The problem is that that keyboard is a boat anchor that weighs down the true vision of Windows 8.
At about 3:48 into Minority Report, we see the first vision of John Anderton's computer: a curved sheet of glass, which serves as an overlay over a video wall. Tom Cruise's character swipes through various video windows and data feeds while presenting the "evidence" to a judge and witness. No keyboard is present.
Instead, Anderton communicates by voice, asking the computer or his assistants for relevant information. The synergy fuses into a harmony of man and machine, embodied by the classical music Anderton uses as a backdrop.
Whether it be Windows 8 or something from Google, a true Minority Report future won't be enabled until we can replace the keyboard with true speech recognition. This isn't impossible, technically – but it may be so, culturally.
We know that both Apple's Siri and Android's own cloud-based speech recognition aren't perfect, but constantly improve. Google is also feverishly polishing Google Glass, trying to make voice commands and dictation part of the interface.
We also know that we're increasingly forced to work on top of one another. A purely speech-driven interface is problematic, both in the crowded environs of a trading floor, as well as the library-quiet culture of my previous employer's sales staff. As cubes shrink – and as employers like Yahoo require workers to collaborate on-site – the problem will worsen. And I can't even begin to imagine how you'd write software code via voice command.
The answer may be a further loss of privacy. In San Francisco, you can play a fun little game: is that person mentally deranged and talking to himself, or using Bluetooth? We're a bit more used to it on the street. Within the office, things tend to be a bit different.
The alternative, though, may push even further into science fiction: subvocalization, or embedding a sensor into your larynx to allow users to quietly issue commands and dictation. Research in that direction will have to anticipate a voice-enabled future, too – one that, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to see.
Here's that video of Jinha Lee's transparent 3D desktop:

What To Expect From Facebook's Shiny New News Feed

http://readwrite.com/2013/03/01/facebook-will-unveil-a-new-news-feed-on-march-7

Taylor Hatmaker March 1st, 2013

News Feed, one of the three so-called "pillars" of Facebook - alongside Timeline and Graph Search - is the bustling epicenter of the social network. And it's overdue for an overhaul.
In a press invite sent out Friday, Facebook invited us to "Come see a new look for News Feed" on the morning of Thursday, March 7, at the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.

 

News Feed Needs Some Spring Cleaning 

At turns maddening, cluttered and ad-ridden, News Feed is the core of the Facebook social experience. If you click the "Home" button that's where you'll land - and it's certainly where Facebook wants its users to hang out.
Facebook's real-time, algorithm-driven, social ticker is also what makes the social network so confoundingly addictive: When did my college roommate get hitched? Why can't I stop reading about people I haven't spoken to in years and barely knew to begin with?
While Facebook obviously has the hyper-engaged can't-peel-your-eyes-away aspect of News Feed on lock, it's still a confusing, busy page. Managing who and what shows up on News Feed remains a Sisyphean grind.
The News Feed redesign is likely to remove some of the micro-managing necessary to maintain a relevant social stream. Facebook might also rethink the formula that determines what shows up in the News Feed - but better, more centralized controls for sorting and hiding content would also be a good idea.

A (Literal) Stream Of Revenue

The cunningly engineered sense of addictive voyeurism is what powers News Feed - and what drives advertising revenue straight into Facebook's pocket. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Facebook raked in $1.33 billion in advertising revenue - a 41% leap.

The last time Facebook changed News Feed in a major way was back in September 2011, though it aggressively tinkers around with all of its features on a rolling basis.

We know Facebook is playing around with a cleaner, more image-centric Timeline design, so it's possible that the News Feed revamp could follow suit. Rumors are also afloat that a very visual redesign for the mobile News Feed is on the way - and with Facebook's mobile mindedness, we'd expect some news on that front too.
We won't know what the company has up its sleeve for certain until March 7, but we can cling to one certainty - it's not going to be a Facebook phone.
Image by Taylor Hatmaker.

Forget Skeuomorphism: The (Digital) World Is Getting Flatter

http://readwrite.com/2013/02/15/forget-skeuomorphism-the-digital-world-is-flat

Brian Proffitt February 15th, 2013

Computer interface design is all about metaphors: That's not really a window or a desktop or a menu you're using… it's just a clever approximation of the real-world items sketched out on the screen. One designer's examination of those kinds of conventions in user interfaces on desktops, smartphones and tablets may give us a glimpse into the future look of the devices we use.
The concept of approximating real-world tools and interfaces on the screen is known as skeuomorphism, according to Sacha Greif, a French computer designer who currently resides in Osaka, Japan (which sounds much cooler than, say, a Hoosier living in Indiana).
Greif recently wrote a compelling essay called "Flat Pixels," which explains skeuomorphic design versus the up-and-coming trend of flat design. Greif lays out a great primer explaining what skeuomorphic design actually is, using the example of how many on-screen calculators are designed to look. Usually, just like their physical counterparts, even down the to "C" key in some cases.

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

This is a type of design that I have commented on before to my students, only I didn't know until I read Greif's article what this design concept was called. In my case, when I explain the interface of Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc, I describe for them the old spreadsheet books that accountants used to use, and how the modern-day spreadsheet applications mimic that with rows, columns, cells and worksheets.
Skeuomorphic design, by Greif's definition, attempts to mirror the physical functionality of a tool, even replicating physical items or characteristics that are no longer used all that much. Greif mentioned "radio buttons," which is, if you'll pardon the pun, a hot-button for me, because of the blank stares I get from my undergrads when I mention the term in class.
When was the last time anyone even saw an actual radio button? I can't remember my last time using one, though I miss the satisfying "ker-chunk" I'd hear when tuning into WLS-AM as a kid in the car. Yet, even in "modern" interfaces like Office 2010, radio buttons are still all over the place.
Greif highlights elements of skeuomorphic design as opposed to the rising trend of flat design. In flat design, typography and minimalism take center stage over the functionality of real-world objects. Greif cites Windows 8's Metro interface as a strong example of flat design and indeed, he might hopefully find our own design here at ReadWrite somewhere on the flat end of the design spectrum.
Apple's iOS has leaned heavily on skeuomorphism in the past, with added elements of what Greif describes as realism: The stitched-leather effect seen in many Apple-designed iOS apps is a good example of that, though in recent months Apple appears to be backing away from that kind of design approach.
A very skeuomorphic and realist design.
(See also Tim Cook Cleans House At Apple - Scott Forstall Is Out and Will Apple's New Design Approach Kill The Luster Steve Jobs Loved?)

The Interfaces Ahead

Greif takes care not to hold up one type of design over the other, pointing out the pros and cons of each flavor of interface. But he believes that flat design may have an edge in the near future, as it is particularly suited for mobile interfaces, and easier to code - something he believes all designers will have to do more of.
"This is why I've been embracing flat design lately: not just as an aesthetic choice, but as a design exercise that forces me to shore up my weaknesses," Greif concludes.
If other designers feel the same way, then simpler, cleaner designs could be more prevalent in device interfaces moving forward.
Of course, there are other design schools that don't fall neatly into the skeuomorphic or flat schools of thought, so it won't be all about flat. But given the current rebellion against skeuomorphism, I think it's safe to say that interfaces will be moving away from digital-as-physical constructs for the time being.
I, for one, will still miss the ker-chunk.