Apple are set to release a new, flat user interface design with the roll out of iOS7
In keeping with a recent resurgence in flat design trends, which are largely credited to Microsoft’s Metro design, Apple are set to move away from their more skeuomorphic design patterns towards a flat user interface.
Skeuomorphism describes the way designs often borrow a particular feature from the past, even when the functional need for it is gone. This is because skeuomorphic features, such a shutter sound on a digital camera or paper textures that remind us a digital calendar used to be made of paper, are designed to make a user interface more instinctively familiar to us, as users.
However, the new flat UI trend embraces minimalism through the exclusion of textures, shadows and highlights. This might make the interface more visually appealing but will usability suffer as a result?
For example, Sacha Greif states that:
“Users have come to rely on a lot of subtle clues to make their way through an interface: buttons have slight gradients and rounded corners, form fields have a soft inner shadow, and navigation bars “float” over the rest of the content.”
Moving away form these subtle clues, do Apple run the risk of frustrating their extremely well established existing customer base? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!