What do you guys think? I really think Apple has to change something drastically with the release of Leopard. I mean, Mac OS X looks slick and all, but compared to Vista the design is starting to look really old. Vista is really quite dead sexy in design. What do you guys think?
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Apple has to step up on design
- Thread starter Sobering
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zap2. I agree 
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LOL C'mon. You Apple fanboys have to give some credit to Vista. I mean it is really quite stylish. I mean I love Apple as much as everybody else, but I still keep an eye on Microsoft. As a graphic designer myself, I really appreciate what MS has done with designing Vista.
.LOL C'mon. You Apple fanboys have to give some credit to Vista. I mean it is really quite stylish. I mean I love Apple as much as everybody else, but I still keep an eye on Microsoft. As a graphic designer myself, I really appreciate what MS has done with designing Vista.
zap2. I agree
LOL C'mon. You Apple fanboys have to give some credit to Vista. I mean it is really quite stylish. I mean I love Apple as much as everybody else, but I still keep an eye on Microsoft. As a graphic designer myself, I really appreciate what MS has done with designing Vista.
Vista !!
i would take 10.3 Panther over Vista anyday of the week and twice on Sunday's.But Tiger 10.4 is what i have right now and it does everything i can wish for - Leopard will take that next step up in Design and Sexyness when it get's here
then you must not be a very good graphic designer.
edit: that sounded a little more derogatory than i intended; but my feeling is that the hyperglossy, overdone look in aero is what OSX looked like at version 10.0; it was too much then and its even more too much on vista. i also think there are a lot of things in Tiger that are not good either, but overall i prefer OSX to vista from an aesthetic standpoint by quite a bit.
Haven't used Vista so can't comment on the design.
But aside from the OS I would like Apple to look at the design of their hardware A decent mouse for a start And how about some displays that you can adjust (even rotate?
) and not just tilt? The damn things can't even swivel (apart from turning the whole stand)Sometimes being so sleek and oh so minimal can bite you on the backside. The eternal quest to be the thinnest, kind of like London Fashion week, no?
Maybe they should come up with some BMI guidelines for the new products. While I like the "look" of the iPhone, does it seem all that comfortable to hold? I dunno. (Not that that will stop me getting one of course.
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zap2. I agree
LOL C'mon. You Apple fanboys have to give some credit to Vista. I mean it is really quite stylish. I mean I love Apple as much as everybody else, but I still keep an eye on Microsoft. As a graphic designer myself, I really appreciate what MS has done with designing Vista.
Vista is a big change over XP. It no longer has the clown colours that have been a part of Windows since version 2.0. That's a good change. Using windows that are so transparent that make the text illegible is not so good. It's design gone too far but it gets the attention of those who don't really have good taste, those people who need to be shocked to notice something.
In a way, it's like those web pages that use Flash in such a way that they're unusable. Unlike those pages, you have some control and can tone down the effects, thankfully.
Apple will hopefully show something tastefully designed that doesn't smack you but stays out of the way.
You know, just because Vista is out, doesn't mean Apple is going to change what it does and release something sub-par, why the doubting?...
Can you give some details on what exactly about it you think is dead sexy?
I like the new start menu logo, but that's about it.
Well I think they have overdone it with all the glossiness. But still, it looks very nice. For example all the text seems well formatted and some of the rollovers look amazing. I can't find pictures of what I really like on Google, and I'm not on Vista right now (I'm sticking to OS X
). But maybe I'm just happy that Windows doesn't look like a Fisher Price toy anymore.
I think what bugs me about Aero, aside from repeating many of OS X's early mistakes is that it looks SO SCATTERED. Apps vary in appearance from window to window, there are different colors in different places for no apparent reason, no sense of cohesiveness, just a lot of elements thrown together. Yuck!
OS X isn't perfect in that regard either, but it feels better than Vista. It all feels like it's all part of the same OS, whereas Vista from app to app carries traces of all the versions of Windows that came before it. It doesn't end up feeling like an overhaul, just a new coat of paint... on the borders of windows.
OS X isn't perfect in that regard either, but it feels better than Vista. It all feels like it's all part of the same OS, whereas Vista from app to app carries traces of all the versions of Windows that came before it. It doesn't end up feeling like an overhaul, just a new coat of paint... on the borders of windows.
I think Vista is major improvement over XP as far as the aesthetics go, and I bet Apple does step it up with 10.5.
XP was too pre-school looking, and classic mode was too blah. Sleek, sexy, professional, that's what I look for, and that's why I like OS X.
XP was too pre-school looking, and classic mode was too blah. Sleek, sexy, professional, that's what I look for, and that's why I like OS X.
Agreed- I've been in the ad biz for many years. I wouldn't repeat that you think Vista is sexy to anyone who might be considering hiring you.
And don't worry, I bet Leopard is going to knock it back down a few notches.
I'm actually still running 10.3, but I'm tired of brushed metal. I like the polished look of the icons in new programs and the iTunes 7 interface. Honestly I wouldn't mind a little more color in the OSX interface. Gray = boring.
I'd like to see more colour in Mac OS X but only if it can be turned off at times. Part of the reason that Apple supplies a graphite selection is to have something neutral for graphic designers.
A lot of people have complained about the various interfaces of software that runs on multiple platforms as being Windows-ish and I believe that's because it has a lot of colour.
I can't see Mac OS X eschewing the unified silver and brushed metal and white with pinstripes to use colour but it would be interesting as a change. Apple, pick one, just one.
What more do you want? It's hard to keep design simple, useable, and packed full of features all at what time. All Microsoft has done is dressed up XP, added some OS X into the mix, and tried to give Vista a Web 2.0 feel, but really only gave it a Web 1.85.
zap2. I agree
LOL C'mon. You Apple fanboys have to give some credit to Vista. I mean it is really quite stylish. I mean I love Apple as much as everybody else, but I still keep an eye on Microsoft. As a graphic designer myself, I really appreciate what MS has done with designing Vista.
Sure, but once again, how easy is it to use Vista? It's not even close to the simplicity of Tiger, which has been out for what, nearly two year now?
Roughly half the user of computers don't care how it looks, they just want it to work. Sure if you add the extra 'design' factor in there some will appreciate it, but in the end it was never needed.
100% of computer users care how it looks, they just may not be conscious of it. good design will make things that work, work better. a lot of Aero is ornament, not design.
good design is always needed.
100% of computer users care how it looks? I don't think so. I guess if it looked like crap than they might, but how many people upgraded from 10.3 to 10.4 just for the look? How many upgraded for spotlight, dashboard, and the other features?
I like what you said about Aero though.
they DO care what it looks like, because what it looks like and how it works is a key element of something people interact with; it is part of the user experience. i am not saying they care what the basic aesthetics are, if something is blue or green or clear or solid; i am saying that they care what the entire design looks like, even if they are not consciously aware of it, because the design dictates how well it works.
Who thinks Leopard will pull an iPhone on Vista? Leopard will be to Vista was iPhone is to Zune.
We can probably take some design hints from the iPhone UI as well, directly instead of metaphorically.
We can probably take some design hints from the iPhone UI as well, directly instead of metaphorically.
HEHE
Black is Wack! If anyone made my taskbar black I would think they are wack! Microsoft has mearly just got mac osx and made it blacker, Aero? WoW see through! They put a lot of thought into that, there's northing there!
I think Aqua is a little more functional than Aero. Take Expose. In one push of a button, OS X shows ALL of your windows at once, so you can quickly and easily find the one you want. Vista has a new feature similar to this, which I think is called QuickFlip3D or something. While the look of it is definitely cooler, it really only shows one window at a time, and you have to cycle through a lot of windows before you find the one you want. That definitely takes more time than Expose, which shows ALL of them all at once.
I've used Mac OS 10.0 not too long ago, and Aqua was rather sluggish during that. Aqua has come a long way, but it's a rather inconsisten mix between the original pinstriping, Safari's brushed metal, and Mail and iTunes' aluminum look. I think Apple needs to be slightly more consistent with Aqua. I wouldn't mind seeing nothing but aluminum, and maybe they could bring back the semi-transparent window title bar from OS 10.0 and 10.1 back.
I've used Mac OS 10.0 not too long ago, and Aqua was rather sluggish during that. Aqua has come a long way, but it's a rather inconsisten mix between the original pinstriping, Safari's brushed metal, and Mail and iTunes' aluminum look. I think Apple needs to be slightly more consistent with Aqua. I wouldn't mind seeing nothing but aluminum, and maybe they could bring back the semi-transparent window title bar from OS 10.0 and 10.1 back.