111–120 of 335 posts
Does Apple have a Scott Forstall problem? http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/29/does-apple-have-a-sco...
Apple Retail Leadership Tells Stores It 'Messed Up' Employee Working Hours, Refutes Layoffs http://www.nasdaq.com/article/apple-retail-leadership-tells-...
Jony Ive is now responsible for HI guidelines across the company? That could turn out great or horrible. (I'm not sure whether obviously great hardware designers can also be great UI designers.) I'm optimistic for now. Hopefully that means bye bye overt skeumorphism. (I do think Apple's UIs have in the past always been above average, sometimes excellent. Their fashion choices, however, have at times been horrible. It…
The man's got taste. That's good enough for me. Though I fear that it probably is "bye bye overt skeumorphism", but what if the new ideology is "hello excessive minimalism/removing every last pro feature left"? Let's hope not. I don't use iCal or Address Book much, so I don't hate that stupid skeumorphism like the rest of the world (I like it though when it's used sparingly and isn't just keep getting in your way)...
Well said. Ive's aesthetic has certainly worked for the hardware line. Even if for nothing else than just the novelty of seeing what they'll put out, I'm delighted to see him take over all HI.
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If they aren't staying skeuomorphic, then Metro might give you a preview.
Do you really think that they would radically redesign the next version of iOS?
Yes. Absolutely. After a year of the longer 4" screen I fully expect Apple to significantly revise the UI to take advantage of this extra room.
Don't expect a radical change that throws out everything Apple has already achieved, but do expect new widgets that make 4" screens better.
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That's what's so weird, though — that particular reel-to-reel design actually seems like a deliberate combination of both influences. The skeuomorphic look of Podcasts was based on a physical product design by Ive's legendary design influence, Dieter Rams: http://www.cultofmac.com/176008/heres-the-braun-tape-recorde... In retrospect, the tension inherent in this odd compromise seems palpable. It's like listening to t…
Skeuomorphing physical objects designed by Rams is still skeuomorphing.
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If they aren't staying skeuomorphic, then Metro might give you a preview.
Metro is defined by flat background colors, square corners and no shading. You can have a non-skeumorphic interface without any of those features, and given Apple's history of interface design, it would surprise me if they adopted any of them. Apple loves rounded rectangles, gradient backgrounds and shading to indicate depth, though shine and real-like textures may be on the way out.
What Apple loves is irrelevant (if one is willing to ascribe emotional states to corporations). Daimler-Benz loved steering tillers. Ford loved hand throttles.
Think about the way in which the interfaces of automobiles changed over the first forty years as they went from horseless carriages to widespread adoption. That's what we're seeing in computer interfaces.
Interesting timing on the announcement, given that the stock market is closed today and likely tomorrow too. As both a fan and shareholder of Apple, I'm very pleased to hear Browett is out. The stories that came out a couple months ago about the changes in Apple Retail did fill me with admiration for his management style. Also, given how Forstall is described in a Business Week profile[1], and that Bob Mansfield is n…
Then Cook convinced Mansfield to "unretire" and become an advisor: http://gigaom.com/apple/shedding-light-on-apple-exec-drama-w...
And now, Mansfield heads up a huge new group called Technologies (wireless, semiconductor, etc).
What a roller coaster for Mansfield... but not just him, the entire management team because they're all working together and dependent on each other.
People's reactions to this announcement are overly focused on Forstall's assumed support for heavy skeumorphism (and their excitement at his departure as lead proponent). I think his record as head of iOS since its inception is a much more salient issue. Forstall led development of the fastest-growing, most popular computing platform of the past decade or so with, to be sure, a few notable screw-ups, but mostly incre…
Anyone who A) likes Apple and B) has ever been in a Dixons store in the UK will be overjoyed with the other departure, Browett (head of retail and previous Dixons CEO) who is leaving immediately (compared to Forstall's year long "transition" departure). Dixons is everything that Apple should never be; terrible customer service, clueless minimum wage staff, horrible retail experience, and generally used only by people…
>> Anyone who A) likes Apple and B) has ever been in a Dixon's store in the UK will be overjoyed with the other departure, Browett (head of retail) who is leaving immediately (compared to Forstall's year long "transition" departure). Dixon's is everything that Apple should never be; terrible customer service, clueless minimum wage staff, horrible retail experience, and generally used only by people who desperately ne…