Software Design Approach At Apple Changing?
What sort of progress has been made in Apple’s new approach to design since Jonny Ive has started to influence the software side of things? Not much, yet.
Jessica Lessin, Apple Design Teams Get Cozier
Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative. For the past few years, Apple has unveiled versions of its mobile operating system in the summer.
Design is one example of the increased “collaboration across hardware, software and services” that Apple said it was aiming for when Cook pushed senior vice president and mobile software chief Scott Forstall out of the company last year.
The move united Apple’s Mac and iOS software teams under senior vice president Craig Federighi. Change in that new group is happening slowly.
Federighi has indicated to some employees that he plans to keep the Mac and iOS engineering teams separate for now, one of the people said. There is lots of overlap between the two groups, such as two teams working on calendar software; whether the two would be combined after Federighi took over both was a big question among employees in the division, the people close to the company say. One of the people said that some employees are expecting further reorganization of the two groups this summer.
Sounds like we should look at the next round of calendar software to see what ‘flat design’ means. At the very least, can we get rid of the dumb skeuomorphs, like leather and stitching? Here’s a mock-up:
