I wasn’t even aware of Eli Schiff before reading a reaction to one of his posts by a prominent Apple blogger.
That response posited by Marco is fascinating in and of itself, because despite his attempts to convince his audience otherwise, it really does seem like backpedalling. The completely valid criticisms he highlights in his original piece bear directly on the very method by which he makes a living. Schiff dubbed the four-part series “Critical Sharks,” and it is well worth your time.
After you read that, check out the first part of his newest series called “Fall of the Designer.” Schiff focuses his criticism away from general Apple PR issues and toward the user interface follies of iOS 7/8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
Schiff quoting designer Bill Labus:
“So sad that iOS 7 has destroyed UI design expectations from Apple to the point that Yosemite looks good to most people by comparison.”
Schiff finishing Labus’ thesis:
The standards for what constitutes “good-looking” have plummeted dramatically.
I’m no designer. And, admittedly, on June 10, 2013, no one was happier than I after seeing all those bright colors and white backgrounds dance across the screen on the WWDC livestream.[1]
But you don’t have to be a design genius to agree with Schiff. To the completely design-uninitiated folks like yours truly iOS 7/8 looks and feels confusing, unless you know what you’re doing. For the designers amongst us, iOS 7/8 really does appear like a UI paradox.
Taking things away just for the sake of minimalism doesn’t serve anyone, except maybe white room Jony. Do away with the goofy skeuomorphs, fine. But replacing them with generic UI ‘design’ doesn’t help anyone. Is this really the design impression Jony Ive wants to leave behind?
Not to mention my joy upon witnessing the death of rich corinthian leather ↩