The newest Apple “glass” OS rolled out to all their devices this week. It was roundly panned when it was announced a few months ago. The criticism largely centered on accessibility, with some then using that to pile on the worn-out insult that Apple has lost its edge since Jony Ive left.
As someone who generally loves new approaches, I may have an inherent bias to like the design. But what I want to point out here is less about whether the new UI is successful and more about the importance of having a company that has the audacity to even produce this.
Back in 2011, Microsoft released their Metro Design on Windows 8. Not long after, Google released Material Design in 2014. This was the first time I can remember any major software companies releasing design approaches that had a perspective and intent aside from Apple’s skeuomorphic explosion with the first iPhones (and subsequent criticism for their flat design that folowed that movement).
Apple has pushed designers to try to find ways to mimic their aesthetic details, from bevels and stitching to “squircles” and now to imitating glass. As a leader in design aesthetic, they continue to embrace being brave. With glass, we now have another level of polish to mimic in our designs. On the one hand, I hate how hard it is to mimic, but on the other hand, I’m in admiration for how much they push people to improve their own craft.
Forgive me for the quick side journey, but Apple’s path as a design leader reminds a lot of Radiohead. They are rare (and possibly unique) in their ability to not only stay relevant in music over decades, but to do so while consistently pushing the boundaries of music. The 1997 album OK Computer stands as one of the best albums of any genre of all time. Yet just several years later, they diverged completely with Kid A and Amnesiac. And then again, they evolved again with Hail to the Thief. Now, these evolutions are evolutions; they are not genre pivots done for money like Beyoncé with Cowboy Carter, or whatever Taylor Swift decides to copy on her next album. Instead, Radiohead challenged themselves to evolve their own sound in ways they never could have predicted. And as a result, they spawned copycats and brought entire fringe sub-genres of music into the mainstream.
Just like Radiohead with music, Apple consistently does the same thing with UI design. And while you may not like the next Radiohead album (I really did not like Amnesiac), you appreciate and can see the evolution of their music. Amnesiac pushed not only Radiohead but the craft as a whole into new sonic territory. The same goes for Apple. Each evolution of their design makes sense and feels distinctly “Apple.” And since Jobs rescued the company from the gutter in the mid-90s, they’ve gone through several design leaders but consistently maintained an ethos of boundary-pushing. These design evolutions aren’t always perfect but get iterated on and more importantly, push the rest of the industry.
This is incredibly important for product design. Initially, it does provide healthy fodder for critique, which is generally good for the design community. But in the long term, when a company in a leadership position takes a distinct stance on design, it causes others to take their own stances. In other words, the courage to share an opinion gives others the courage to share their own. Each major OS iteration by Apple pushes all of us: whether it’s to copy their intricate design or to protest it with our own take. 15 years ago, Apple’s skeuomorphic design did the same thing by inspiring the vastly different approaches of Microsoft’s Metro and Google’s Material. Today, we have more design leaders, so I’m excited to see what responses emerge from them over the next three years. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to figure out how to mimic this bizarre glass effect in this dashboard I’m designing.
