iPhone
Illustration in the App Store
Illustration in the App Store
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.
Castro 3 Is a Great Modern Podcast App
Podcasts are the hot new thing on the scene these days and we’re seeing a lot of interest in not just subscribing to a wide range of podcasts, but also in creating them. There are several easy to use tools available on the web that let anyone start their own podcast, due to which we’re seeing a growing number of listeners who [...]
Step Two Is a Gorgeous and Modern Two Step Authentication App [2FA App]
Over the last few versions of iOS, Apple has been using bolder typography for some of the interface elements, but the usage throughout the system has been quite inconsistent. Many of the screens/views in Apple’s own apps feel like a mish-mash of modern elements and old legacy design. A long time ago, Mike Rundle had an app out [...]
Google I/O 2018: App and Design Highlights
Every year Google’s I/O event brings interesting things to the view of millions. The last two years have had some notable things announced, but not a lot of interesting things when it comes to apps and design in the actual keynote. Last night, Google announced a lot of new things not just for the design world or app world, but also [...]
You Can Now Register a .app Domain Name for your App
.app domain names are now in the General Availability phase, meaning you can now go ahead and register any available .app domain at standard pricing. If you’re a developer or someone who’s been waiting for that perfect domain name, now’s a good time to go register it before anyone else takes it away. As part of [...]
Apple’s Inconsistencies in its Own iOS Apps
Apple’s Inconsistencies in its own iOS apps
Benjamin Mayo takes a look at how inconsistent Apple is with its own design guidelines through iconography of the share sheet icon:
My gripe is there is no consistency, no structure or logic to this. Apps introduced later sometimes use rounded icons, sometimes not, sometimes create all-new custom glyphs of their own. Incredulously, you could open flagship apps like Messages, Mail and Safari1 and have no idea Apple was even playing with bold icons as a conceptual change. These apps adopted the iOS 11 large bold navigation bar title formats, but their icons and glyphs have stagnated for more than four years at this point.
This isn’t really new. I was just discussing with Preshit how few of Apple’s own apps I end up using on my iOS devices and how inconsistent their designs have been over the last few years. A lot of the subtle changes are good but inconsistencies like this are not good.