Maccast Members 158 - iOS 7 Design

Opening

• I’ve been wrestling with my thoughts and struggling. Do you ever do that?
• I thought I knew when I started what I wanted these Member shows to be and had gone down a path, but like paths often do, it twists and turns.
• I thought they would be short how-to or tip style shows and that I would do them frequently.
• What happened in the process is that I found many topics that I wanted to think on an explore deeper.
  • I’ve done a few of these shows and generally they seem to be the ones that get the most response and interaction
  • I like that, so I want to do more.
• The struggle is they take longer to prepare and often, like with today’s show, I need time to form my own ideas so I can have some coherence when I convey them to you.
• In my ideal world I would have the time to work on many of my show ideas in parallel and then produce them as I get them ready, but I found in practice that the complexities of the various aspects of my life have not been conducive to that.
• So, I guess what I’m asking is for some guidance. Do you mind or care about the frequency of these shows, or is the value in content that I can produce enough?
• I have an extreme appreciation for you as Maccast Members and I want to be sure I’m delivering on the value and promise of these shows. You represent an exclusive group of listeners who support me in a tagable way. It’s your direct support that gives me the ability to do the Maccast and for that I am ever grateful. Thank you.
• Now on with the show.

Introduction

• So the latest pondering I’ve been doing is about design. All predicated by the debate that has erupted surrounding iOS 7s new aesthetic
• Steve Job’s would probably love the direction the new design for iOS is taking. We’ll at least from one point of view. And hate it from another.
• It’s been reported that Jobs and Forstall were the lovers of a design aesthetic that mimics the real world. What many have called ‘skeuomorphic design’.
• But Jobs, from many other accounts, also hated physical buttons on things, so I imagine that in iOS 7’s new flat world he would have loved that there isn’t anything that, even virtually, looks like a button.
• For me, I’m not so sure how I feel about that. There are also apparently many designers who are also debating over the new trend to “flatter” interfaces.
• I have been reading a number of these articles and have found the debates and arguments fascinating.
• I thought we could maybe talk about some of the things that are being discussed and take look where things are going in the design of iOS, and I assume ultimately in the design of Mac OS X.
• And I thought this episode was going to be exclusively about the look of iOS, but as I mentioned earlier about paths changing, it turned out to be about a lot more than that.

Design, more than good looks

• I think this comes as no great surprise to anyone, but design (or more accurately design aesthetics) are highly subjective
• This is greatly illustrated in the skeuomorphic vs. flat debate
  • Some like flat design, some like the textures, gradients, and physicality of skumorphisim. It’s polarizing.
  • Just so it doesn’t feel left out, I guess, the “flat” design aesthetic gets it’s own buzzword, “digitally authentic”
  • I guess the idea being it was designed purely for a digital world without the shackles of needing to impart influence from any physical, non-digital heritage.
• So what we have is two extremes in a debate, as we often do
  • Those who argue that those design cues that mimic real life things lend comfort and familiarity to the interfaces.
  • Those who feel that the design needs to come from a pure digital place because it destined for a digital thing in a digital world, not a physical one.
  • Each arguing that the other is limiting the design in some way.
• Here’s the thing, they’re both are right and wrong.
  • You do need design that is comfortable and relatable to users
  • You do need be free to design without limits
  • But you can’t have one or the other you need both
• And both actually need to be secondary to the idea that, whatever the design, these things need to have what David Barnard calls “Human Authenticity”
  • They are ultimately designed by and made for humans to use.
  • Obvious yes, but also crazily, often lost in this design debate.
• It’s the design filter that everyone needs to use and where I think iOS 7 has some issues at the moment.
  • It’s the basis for the ‘Slide to Unlock’ complaint.
    • Arrows up and down
    • Slide left to right, but not right to left
    • No real help for humans to know what to do. actually more confusing indicators than helpful ones.
  • Wells Riley talks about less aesthetic, more design. Meaning less concern about the look and more focus on the usefulness of the design.
• The other aspects of the design need to come after the usefulness.
  • They are every bit as important
  • Minimal, simple, easy to use and beautiful interfaces are important, but usefulness comes first
• It’s the usefulness and aesthetic combined that make a design great.
  • One can potentially work without the other, but it’s not going to get very far
  • Enduring, lasting, and insanely great designs have both
• So iOS 7 isn’t about skeuomorphic vs. flat. It’s about re-thinking the tools for design to make the stuff we have more useable

Hardly flat

• It’s how it does that and how well it does it that we are having the debate over now.
• Design elements that are directly connected to and enabled by the technology
• Create more virtual experiences that mimic real world ones
  • But not in a pure visual way, in a mental and emotional way making them feel physical.
  • Creating digital interactive experiences that feel tangible, touchable.
• And the visual tool kit to do that is enabled by the technology
  • The GPU to handles the complex 3D layering and animation
  • Sensors. Detect motion, rotation, light, sound, distance.
  • The processor and software enabling it all to work together.
• Some examples
  • The “parallax” effect on the home screen. Give a “floating” effect to the icons and folders and a feeling like you’re looking “into” a space that exists inside your phone.
  • The floating effect is designed to hint to your brain that those flat icons on top are not a part of what’s behind them. The hint at their interactiveness. They are closer to you, hovering in space and you probably could reach out and touch them.
  • And that effect is enabled, that design language is enabled by and directly tied to the technology.
    • The gyroscope to sense the motion
    • The CPU to process that data
    • The GPU to render the effect on screen
  • And that is just one example of a design vocabulary that is being built into iOS 7 for developers to use to build up their interfaces
    • There is movement and motion. The sense of moving into or out of a space. We “zoom” into and out of apps and folders.
    • Transparency used under modal panels, gives a hint that they are temporary. We see what is under them and what we will return to.
    • Blur effects are used simulate further distance. Moving you further into an interaction and providing focus on the thing currently in front of you.
  • An simple, but elegant example can be seen in the home screen of iOS when doing a Spotlight search
    • Slide down on the home screen and the search modal comes in from the top on a small translucent sheet that doesn’t obscure the home screen. The keyboard, by the way, comes up from the bottom on a similar sheet.
    • So you have the search interactive box, but you can still see the home screen icons clearly. You’ve moved into a “search” space, but not very deep. You can jump right back to the home screen by tapping right back where you were. It’s intuitive and no “cancel” button needed.
    • Once you start typing the search happens and as the results come up, the background blurs. It moves you further into the search experience. You still have the hint that you can cancel and return, but your deeper into the experience and iOS 7s visual design language is telling you that.
    • It will take more effort to get back now, you can’t see to tap the home screen icons, so naturally your mind will now search for your options. There is the results you can tap on to move forward, but also a “cancel/close” X icon has been added to the search. Tapping that removes the “blur”, your distance from the home screen and search dialog and move you back to that mode. Back to that space.
  • What cool about all this is until it’s pointed out you don’t really notice it. I think because it’s intuitive to our brains.
    • If I pick up a sheet of paper from my desk to look at it I’ve taken my focus away from my computer and put it on the paper.
    • I can still see the computer, it’s there, but partially obscured and my focus is not on it. It’s blurred into the background.
    • Put down the paper and my presence and focus can return to the computer
  • Apple is exploring this too and they are showing a path, but not “the path”
    • Their path is also being defined.
    • It’s “beta” and not set in stone

Art and function

• It’s not like these concepts are new to iOS or to user interfaces. We’ve been using and playing with these concepts for years
• What’s changing for iOS though, is the visuals that are combined with the technologies and interactive experiences.
• The visual design choices made by Apple and others are, in my mind, are a big key to the success or failure of iOS 7 with consumers.
• Apple’s focus, especially with iOS, is a consumer one. Consumers are now familiar with gesture based systems, but in their current language. A language largely written and influenced by Apple.
• Now they want to change the language. And that’s OK, but you can’t go from speaking Latin to Modern English in one jump.
• And that, to me, is where the concern is. If the new design language is too radical then consumers could get confused and turned off. They won’t understand.
• A lot of the discussion has been given to the design aesthetic.
  • The look is important.
  • It needs to be “pretty” so that people are drawn to it.
  • A good looking interface can pull you in. Makes you want to interact with the device or an application.
  • A bad one can do the opposite
• Once you’re sucked in though, there needs to be substance.
• The art has to follow the function
• And this is where the battle will be fought by Apple and app developers in the next generation of user interfaces and devices. The key to success is finding that magic combination.

Doing a Rams Evaluation

• So back when Jobs was designing the original Mac lore tells us he took inspiration from designer Dieter Rams
• Dieter Rams developed ten measurements for what he considered “good design”
• So I wondered, how do I think iOS would hold up, based on what I know about it so far.
• I fully recognize I’m using my opinion on an unreleased OS, but this seemed like a good way to wrap this conversation up. ;)
• I also recognize that Rams was possibly meaning these rules to apply to the physical objects themselves, but I’m still willing to try to extrapolate it to the OS
  1. Good design is innovative
     • …innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
     • I think for iOS 7 this might be debatable, but I see the new design developing with the technology and made to work with it (how well remains to be seen).
  2. Good design makes a product useful
     • A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
     • Here I see the potential that iOS 7 could not meet this criteria. Some of the design choice, especially ones that cause user confusion, could be said to detract form the product.
  3. Good design is aesthetic
     • The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
     • Knowing that aesthetics are subjective, I still think iOS 7 is esthetically pleasing to most people, so I say it meets this criteria
  4. Good design makes a product understandable
     • It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.
     • I’m pretty sure iOS 7 will fail at this at least in a few areas
  5. Good design is unobtrusive
     • Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
     • I think in most ways iOS 7 will meet this criteria. I would say iOS 7s design is neutral and restrained.
  6. Good design is honest
     • it does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
     • I think iOS 7 is OK here too. The design enables the features that are there and doesn’t try to promise more.
  7. Good design is long-lasting
     • It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
     • I’d go with 50/50 on this one. I think shedding some of the embellished aspects of the old UI makes iOS 7 more timeless, but the choice of typography and color palette could still date it.
     • To be fair, I’d say “dating” an object doesn’t inherently invalidate it’s long term design appeal.
  8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail
     • Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the user.
     • I think iOS 7 fails here because too much is assumed about the users familiarity with modern gesture interfaces.
     • You will be forced to “discover” a lot of functionality
  9. Good design is environmentally-friendly
     • Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
     • Doesn’t really apply, but for sure iOS 7 is void of visual pollution, maybe too much so.
  10. Good design is as little design as possible
      • Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
      • I find this one up for debate too. For sure their is a simplicity to iOS 7, but I’m not convinced it’s void of all non-essentials.
      • Simplistic, or minimalistic, also doesn’t equate to simplicity.
  11. I think you’d be hard pressed to make a case for ANY product to meet all of these criteria.
  12. It is a good guide though on what designs should aspire to be.

Evolutionary reboot

• What’s exciting about iOS 7 and it’s new look and design language is not that it’s revolutionary, but evolutionary.
• It’s our next step into a new way to interface with technology.
• It’s defining a set of tools and paradigms not just for iOS devices, but likely the other kinds of products Apple wants to build.
• Until iOS 7, iOS has been about transitioning us from a desktop computer UI and language to a gestural one.
• With iOS 7 the gesture UI is taking on it’s own life and evolving to become the basis for a language and design esthetic for the handheld devices we have now, but more importantly for new things to come.
• Apple has provided a new and rich set of tools for design and shown an example of how they pan to use it, but it’s the community who will take that and evolve it.
• The key for app developers and designers will be understanding the new design language. They need to embrace it, use it, and add their own “slang” or regional “dialect” to it. Make it their own and help make it better.
• Those who can embrace and extend the model will have the greatest success.
• Some will be happy to simply follow and mimic Apple’s lead, but others will take the concepts and make them their own and push the design language and concepts forward and that’s what’s really exciting about iOS 7. It’s the start of a new eveloutionary step.
• It’s a new path and we get to see where it will lead us.