I’m gonna say it. The only people who shit on “skeuomorphism” or rich design in software are people who didn’t know how to do it or work with it.
The aesthetic with gradients, shadows, highlights, *color*, shading— it all worked well. It’s just not something everyone could do.
*That* is why it disappeared. To make it easier for everyone to make apps that looked “default.”
Not because it's better this way.
The same thing happened with app icons. They used to be very detailed, very dimensional, but it was tricky to get right. *Only a few people in the world* were great at it. And that made it hard for everyone else to look good.
So they made app icons that were rounded squares. That were cropped automatically, for you. You provide a square image, you’re done.
This is why the aesthetic simplified: to make it *easier* for as many people to pump out apps as possible.
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I was not saying people are *bad designers.* I was saying that visual design is a *skill* and it has little overlap with UI design. People who are good at one are not necessarily good at the other. They are two different roles.
The reality is there are not many good visual designers, and the result was many apps of the era didn’t pull off that aesthetic as well as Apple could.
So Apple decided to change the aesthetic to make it more accessible for people to ship more apps.
I think Wil Shipley [maybe? I think?] used to refer to people who did visual design as artists rather than designers, which I think is a decent distinction.
I don’t think there was ever an expectation that anyone called a designer could do that work. It’s a totally different skillset.
It’s in Apple’s best interest to remove barriers like this, which is also why they made SF Symbols. Now developers don’t have to make their own icons, hire an icon designer, or find free alternatives.
@louie I agree that those who shit on it tend to do so from a position of ignorance, but I disagree that the shift in aesthetic is just to make design easier.
In most art forms, there's a pendulum swing between simplicity and complexity. I don't see why UI design would be exempt. There are always folks who say one end only exists because it's easy (eg minimalism in music), or that the other end is overwrought and inaccessible (eg 12-tone music), but I think both sides commit the same fallacy.
@louie I enjoy your posts, but if you’re going to put an opinion on social media and then proceed to chastise people for politely disagreeing with you, then maybe consider making your profile private.
I’m also aware this was likely said in jest, but it’s the internet so it can be hard to discern.
@louie @simonbs The other problem is that they never established a consistent visual style across until iOS 7. iOS was also getting worse to look at. Perhaps Apple’s visual designers were ready for a change too. iOS 6 was significantly uglier than the versions before and after IMO.
A big shift was necessary.
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