I'm I the only person who sees the #LiquidGlass design as a step back?
We went all these past years from the complex 2008 skeuomorphism design to a simplified minimal design.

We all agreed that gradients were out, that simplicity helps better express function, that a single color was useful, that rounded corners give us safety, that overusing drop shadows and outlines was redundant...

And now we have this style that essentially adds a top left and a bottom right rim light to an over-rounded box with a blur background. Everything has to be pill-shaped and contrast has to suck because everything is a transparent blurry mess.

Who did this?
This looks like designer bait.
This is based on ideas that were tried and eventually discarded.

Sure, there is no "right design". What we consider now to look "modern" is just a result of our cultural trends over time.

You can argue that Liquid Glass is a good design. But what you can't argue is that it is in a way a step back on everything we learned over the last 20 years.

And sure, that is not "bad".
There is no "good" and "bad" in design. There are only trends and people following or experimenting with them.

Just think about this: What is the evolution path for Liquid Glass if not going back to what we were doing a few years ago?

I still cannot get over how awful #LiquidGlass is on macOS. Safari windows have completely different-looking title bars depending on the background colour of the web page that they're viewing. This means that there's no visual cue that they are windows of the same app. The same applies to a bunch of other apps, but in Safari it's most pronounced.

No one with any experience in HCI at all would ever have thought this was a good idea.

Safari View Controller UI on @daringfireball

This particular shade of grey makes #Apple #LiquidGlass light mode look like ‘Reduce Transparency’ is on. Dark mode just looks broken.

Apple is still missing the point. This design language does not work. Your average user does not want to use Kai’s Power Goo to operate their phone or computer. It’s just butterfly keyboard stubbornness all over again.

https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/06/apple-showcases-apps-using-liquid-glass-in-new-developer-gallery/

#apple #liquidglass

“Perhaps Apple has some user studies that suggest otherwise, but I cannot see how dialing back the lines between interface and document is supposed to be beneficial for the user.”

https://pxlnv.com/blog/window-chrome-of-our-discontent/

#LiquidGlass #macos