Skeuo-mopho-ism Articles of the last couple days seem to indicate that Jobs often fought for it. And while I find it tedious, I also don't discount the strong identity it can add to an application that may be important for first time or non-technical users. It obviously doesn't appeal to those of us who work on these devices (in fact it gets in the way) but for the pure delight side of those who only crack open iPhoto once a month it may indeed have some important initial value. How they choose the ones to get this approach is beyond me, but I know that when I think of my AddressBook (or more recently "Contacts"), I think "brown".
The other direction in mobile design seems to be towards a grand unification - a true grand system that for me has the downside of ending up in an indistinguishably generic place that can be baffling for neophytes. iTunes in its many iterations has gone almost entirely soulless…sure we might laugh at how it used to look, but there were visual clues there that we all got used to. First version are often easiest to design because they have the least functionality and the longest birthing process. The real test is maintaining that logic far into the future without a major interface overhaul (hello, new iTunes!).
Ultimately I guess it still comes down to good UX/UI design, but sometimes problems don't get solved in single iterations…or even 10.
Na-no-no I think the Nano has always been an experimental pivot point for Apple, moving more rapidly with fashion. Colours, finishes, and integration with fitness systems has moved this device to a lot of different places over the years. Interesting how they chose round icons on the interface that is not iOS - likely so there's no consumer confusion about installing apps on it. Not sure it makes for good design, but it's sure as heck "cute" - there was a resounding "it looks like a tiny Nokia Lumina!" on Twitter this afternoon. |
