The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

On Apple systems, as long as you’re using the native frameworks, the framework itself handles a lot more of the visual update.

Both methods have their pros and cons, but you’re less likely to see an aesthetic divergence on iOS/macOS

And as to Ive, he cannot even claim to have originated flat design, it was a slavish imitation of Microsoft and Google's design.

People forget but the reason this minimalist design travesty happened was political: Steve Jobs was no longer around, he had fired Scott Forstall because of the bungled Maps fiasco, and he promoted Jony Ive, the hardware minimalist who wanted to Bauhaus all the things.

This is what I wrote in 2016, if Steve Jobs still ran Apple: https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=234

Look, we may not need skeumorphism, but we need shadows. We need to know what is part of the chrome interface and what’s part of the documents. When I was a kid I joined the Apple Human Interface developers usenet group (anyone remember those?) They used to be religiously against hidden modes (interface modes which could not be discovered and navigated to by straightforward visual inspection). Apple computers used to be easy to use for precisely guidelines like these, which they proudly published. Heck, they even proudly touted the small size of their phones for ease of access, which I agreed with:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Af0gtsjfy7E

They became hypocrites and trend-followers when they abandoned all these things. Microsoft started the flat trend (and Woz praised them for it). Android phones became “phablets” (which Steve Jobs derided). Apple became a follower and didn’t even bother remembering what they claimed was the best way, just a year earlier.

But then again, of course, Apple always did this even under Steve - claiming RISC processors were far better and next year claiming Intel was better after they switched. Claiming they invented the Omnibox in Safari years after Chrome did.

But at least I am happy to see some of Apple’s original DNA coming back.

Likewise for Bauhaus design - also a century old.

There are hints of a new generative aesthetic - busy in an unhierarchical repeated-elements kind of way, with organic influences - but that's better suited to architecture and sculpture than commercial design.

There probably won't be a completely original design language until AR/VR become ubiquitous - which will take a while.