[linky url=”https://www.subtraction.com/2018/05/22/illustration-in-the-app-store/” title”Illustration in the App Store “]Illustration in the App Store [/linky]
We don’t see this particular flavor of artistic ambition from many companies today, especially tech companies. The predominant mode of product design almost exclusively favors templates and automation, what can be done without human intervention. The very idea of asking living, breathing art directors who need to be paid real salaries to hire living, breathing illustrators who also need to be paid a living wage in order to create so-called works of art that have no demonstrably reproducible effect on actual profits is outlandish, absurd even. The mere suggestion would get you laughed off of most design teams in Silicon Valley. Design in this century has little use for anything that can’t be quantified.
The App Store in a post iOS 11 world is pretty great. Over the last few updates we can even update apps from other accounts without having to login, which is a great thing for people like me because I use another account to try out games that aren’t available worldwide yet. One underrated aspect is the curation bit and while it is pretty terrible in India on the App Store, what I see on the UK and US store fronts is almost always great.
The images and iconography created for the editorial content are really nice. This post highlights that aspect of the App Store curation and I’m blown away by some of the details. This is one of those “only Apple” things and I mean that in the best possible way.