iOS 7’s Design Still “A Work In Progress”

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iOS-7-in-hand

“Apple made this?” That’s the first thing I asked myself when iOS 7 was unveiled to the world at WWDC on Monday. It’s so different from anything Apple has ever done design wise that it’s hard to wrap your head around as a longtime fan of the company.

If you’re still in shock at the randomness and general weirdness of iOS 7 like I am, this tidbit of info helps clear things up: Apple’s own designers weren’t in charge of creating the OS’s icons. A new report reveals the disjointed process that Jony Ive led behind the scenes to create iOS 7 at Apple.

The Next Web has spoken with sources who have revealed that Jony Ive put Apple’s marketing and communications department in charge of designing the icons for iOS 7. “From what we’ve heard, SVP of Design Jony Ive (also now Apple’s head of Human Interaction) brought the print and web marketing design team in to set the look and color palette of the stock app icons,” according to the report. “They then handed those off to the app design teams who did their own work on the ‘interiors’, with those palettes as a guide.”

Ive wanted “new blood”

So that means Apple’s own designers—extremely talented individuals who are fully capable of creating beautiful icons and a consistent user experience—didn’t create the general aesthetic of what you see in iOS 7. Ive wanted “new blood” and fresh eyes to give iOS 7 a radical redesign.

The report goes on to explain how the teams working on different parts of iOS 7 within Apple didn’t collaborate much during the design process. That explains why there’s little visual consistency between apps.

The good news is that iOS 7 will probably change quite a bit before it ships to the public this fall. “The work on design and development is still going full tilt, and what was presented this week is firmly a ‘work in progress’,” reports The Next Web. Some big design changes will likely be pushed to developers as Apple releases new iOS 7 betas in the coming months.

Click the link below for more info.

Source: The Next Web

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