The future of iOS design?

Sweating the details of iOS 7

“Completely flat,” “Like Android,” “Microsoft-flat,” etc., etc., etc.

The talk about how Apple is going to “flatten out” its UI style has set the rumour-mills ablaze with completely spurious conjecture. So I thought I’d add to it. However, let’s approach this not from “what one insider source told someone” but instead from evidence of progression within some of the top iOS apps.

Let’s start with homescreen icons given it’s the most obvious port of call.

Above is a selection of some of the most popular, well-known or lauded apps for the iOS platform. And there’s not a gloss, “texture” or stripe in sight. Yes, we can see a hint of it (Spotify, Path, Evernote) but the majority have gone for a different approach. There’s still the evidence of gradient and a “top shine” but it’s a more subtle, radial curve (Facebook, Google Drive, Dropbox, Flipboard) that alludes to a sense of perspective or 3D as opposed to the harshly cut gloss of old.

To me, there is a distinct movement towards a particular style and I would be very surprised if Apple were ignorant of it. It’s not “flat design” per se and it’s certainly nowhere near the “Metro” levels that people are suggesting they may follow, but it’s a mellowing out of the visual indicators that people need to trigger the idea of a tappable element. Why? Because this is not 2007 anymore, and we are all now fully aware of the medium and the process; we don’t need to be led garishly by the hand. There is still a sense of depth and tactility but done in a refined and suggestive way, sensitive to the changed perceptions that people have of interacting with touchscreens.

One of the jobs of a designer is that you’re very sensitive to trying to understand what goes on between seeing something and filling out your perception of it. — Jony Ive

Google and Facebook have led the charge recently for throwing design resources at their iOS apps and redesigning them in a beautiful, subtle and elegant manner. The idea that either of those wouldn’t have inside information about the direction of iOS 7's UI and styling is beyond belief and we can only assume that the similar route they have taken (away from Google’s completely-flat Android style) indicates the direction in which Apple is pushing.