The new app icons are horrific and poorly designed

[DNichter]

I'm sorry, but these icons and this new dock are just ugly. Why are they turning macOS into iPadOS Pro?

They're not, iPadOS looks and functions better than macOS at this juncture.

 

[TheLunaPark]

So according to the Apple introduction, Alan Dye - a veteran designer and colleague of Jony Ive - approved some of those icons? Don't buy it for a second.

 

[682904]

View attachment 926155

THIS BATTERY ICON IS A JOKE LOL WTF

green con dom

 

[HQuest]

wHy DoN't YoU lIkE mY nEw IcOnS? tHeY aRe So PoWeRfUl AnD fUlL oF cReAtIviTy... I'm A rEnOwEd ApPlE dEsIgNeR, yOu SeE, aNd I kNoW iT iS gOoD wHeN iT iS i dOiNg It.

Said the new Apple designer who approved this mess.

 

[boss.king]

I really hope these are placeholder icons. The Keychain one, in particular, is truly awful.

EDIT: I hadn't even seen the battery level one in Energy Saver. It looks like it's straight out of one of those scam battery improvement apps.

 

[DesignMonkey]

Especially the System Preferences icons.

100% Agree with this ^^ It's probably the worst of the bunch and needs a redo!

 

[iamMacPerson]

Most of the icons I don't have a problem with, but the depth of the drop shadows is EXCESSIVE and they're waaaayyy overused. Why does the Map.app icon need depth? It's not like that in iOS. It looks like a hyper-realistic 3D horror cartoon. Same with the new battery icon in System Preferences.

My new favorite icon though is the Network icon in System Prefs, personally. Fight me lol.

 

[JLOAKS]

This may be a conspiracy theory, but is it possible the icons were designed that way (to have a somewhat 3D appearance) in preparation for how they would appear in an AR/Apple Glasses environment?

 

[marsattacks]

Ghastly icons - must be placeholders. Not sure which is most offensive Quicktime, Facetime, Messages - or Stickies (with added Comic sans font)?

 

[MacOH21]

I'm hopeful we'll see some changes. From prior beta's, there's always been a few UI tweaks where Apple wanted to receive feedback. In this case, the icon's are just not good. I'm ok with other parts of the UI, but some of those icons are just awful.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Ghastly icons - must be placeholders. Not sure which is most offensive Quicktime, Facetime, Messages - or Stickies (with added Comic sans font)?

No. That title belongs to Final Cut. 🤢 🤮

 

[tomtad]

Most of the icons I don't have a problem with, but the depth of the drop shadows is EXCESSIVE and they're waaaayyy overused. Why does the Map.app icon need depth? It's not like that in iOS. It looks like a hyper-realistic 3D horror cartoon. Same with the new battery icon in System Preferences.

My new favorite icon though is the Network icon in System Prefs, personally. Fight me lol.

Yep, Networks a good un !

 

[itsmilo]

whats with those random green shadows or whatever that is supposed to be on the Messages and FaceTime app. Also are we going back to iOS 1? whats up with the random skeuomorph on some icons, but not all. Looks very dated

 

[iamMacPerson]

whats with those random green shadows or whatever that is supposed to be on the Messages and FaceTime app. Also are we going back to iOS 1? whats up with the random skeuomorph on some icons, but not all. Looks very dated

Yes I agree but it's not skeuomorphism entirely. It's lots of drop shadows... which were a big part of Apple's skeuomorphic design language.

 

[audiomatt]

I missed skeuomorphism. All y'all can screw off
These UIs were so visceral and emotionally enveloping

🔎 kais power tools - Google Search

www.google.com

https://www.google.com/search?q=KPT+bryce

 

[drinkingtea]

View attachment 926155

THIS BATTERY ICON IS A JOKE LOL WTF

WTFFFFFFFF, lmaoooo. Ewww.

This is what happens with Boomers at the helm...
[automerge]1592946926[/automerge]

Holy cow these are awful, lol. I have always defended even the most stark of changes (i.e. iOS 7), but some of these icons are just... bad. Especially the System Preferences icons.

🤮

 

[AppliedMicro]

a major issue with Apple interfaces over the past half decade (that’s getting worse with Big Slur than better) of reducing as much possible visual and contextual user comprehension affordances. Low-contrast everything, razor-thin font/lines all in a sea of white, medium white, or darker white...buttonless buttons with minimal zoning/framing of similar functions to provide subtle instant context

I guess you'll be able to get a lot of that back via accessibility preferences.

If “real life” that we’re all used to is not flat, what was the functional benefit from flat design other than to give some designers something new to try for the past ~decade? I don’t need cheesy skeuomorphism like that battery; I just need (the return to) an interface that is intuitive, and non-flat designs are generally much more intuitive IMHO as it’s much easier for providing context and identifying actionable items vs. info-only items.

So why of all things were it the not-so-obvious UI elements that they made even flatter?
Like toolbar icons, as was pointed out earlier on this thread.

...while at the same time, the ones that they actually made "more 3D" are the ones that would have needed it least. Like the colorful app icons with rounded corners that are intuitive enough (standing) on their own.

 

[Catman8976]

What drugs are Apple smoking

View attachment 926136

Apple could have at least used an older Finder icon behind the new one for Migration assistant.

 

[macplay]

To much inner shadow and sometimes drop shadow
[automerge]1592948058[/automerge]
And it also looks like they did the fast train. To build a good ui you need time. And it looks like they didnt had it

 

[GadgetBen]

SHADOWGATE!

Totally agree! I love the new software but the icons need to get rid of their shadows, the shadows are terrible and take the icons back in time - not in a good retro way.

Look at the new Apple icons next to WhatsApp for comparison. Why can't the Apple icons be more crisp or maybe more translucent?

It looks like a teenager designed them and then the only setting they could think to apply was the shadow effect.

 

[Ted Persson]

Smart strategy. Make the MacOS icons so ugly you just have to switch to iPadOS.

 

[Wiesenlooser]

I honestly don't mind them. They look worse on screenshots than they do when you have them natively running on your retina display. Then, even the shadows don't look that bad.

Only one that irritates me is the mail one with the unnecessary writing on the letter.

I'm hopeful we'll see some changes. From prior beta's, there's always been a few UI tweaks where Apple wanted to receive feedback. In this case, the icon's are just not good. I'm ok with other parts of the UI, but some of those icons are just awful.

 

[William Lawes]

I was speechless when i saw this new „icon design“. The more i look at them the more i hate it. it‘s really that bad. a big step backwards. The introduction video with the leaddesigner even startet with „reducing visual complexity“. What?! By adding another shadow layer and slamming the old icons over white backgroud (keynote)?
It looks like one of those cheap android UIs from these chinese smartphone vendors like xiaomi and vivo. Really, unbelievable.

 

[symphony]

If iOS and iPad apps are supposed to run in harmony with macOS apps, then macOS should have gotten the iOS icons.

Now we’re both going to have overly shaded and embossed 3D Mac icons and flat and simple iOS icons.

 

[Catman8976]

The Finder looks disturbed again.

Compared to how it should look.