"There is a deep intellectual rigor to the design of iOS 7"
...sounds like he's validating his own intelligence by noticing how intelligent the design is. Only time can validate great design, and it's very early days.
It's almost like this article is preparing us for the inevitable(?) "I told you so" moment that we also faced with the iPad in 2012. I'm just as sure this time that we misunderstand iOS 7 in the same way we misunderstood the iPad.
Sounds like you are just grinding an ax because use of the word "intellectual" to you seems way too egotistical?
Well, they could have validated the design via lots of user testing; they could have done A/B testing on multiple great designs (not just the chosen design and several crappy ones). There is a lot of work to design than just the creative work.
I was wary of posting my comment because it comes off as ax grinding, which is why I prefaced it the way I did. I'm genuinely interested to see if anyone shares my opinion, or if I'm nuts. I can accept either outcome.
"The design of iOS 7 is based on rules."
iOS 6's design certainly was not inferior due to lack of rules
"a Z-axis of layers organized in a logical way"
That's the basis of every UI.
[/rant]
Anyways, here is a summary of the article, for those not interested in digging meaning out of it:
1. Blurred transparent layers are cool and useful (Ubuntu has known this for years now).
2. Apple is finally making software whose elegance and design captures the essence of their hardware design (yay!). You get that same "just works" feeling (like sliding shut a heavy, mechanical dead bolt with no resistance).
[/summary]
Here's my review of Apple's iOS6 UI, if anyone is interested (note: I have used and loved Apple products my entire life):
1. Finally catching up to the flat UI trend. +1
2. LINKS instead of navigation buttons? I'm not a fan, but okay, as long as the "tappable" area is the same.
3. LINK instead of [SEND] button in Messages? Why?
4. Safari's icon is so ugly
5. Mail's icon is so ugly. Wtf!
6. The "Control Center" screenshot looks hideous on that backdrop, darken the background of your modals!
7. wtf@the default homescreen background! I don't even remember what that trend is called.. bokeh? bokah? Hang on one sec, gotta take this, the early 2000s are calling.
8. LOVE the look of the new bottom bars
9. LOVE the switch to helvetica neue with a skinny font weight
10. hate the < > buttons in safari, why are they so huge and freaky
11. Mail looks awesome, as does Weather and Messages
12. Weather needs a bit more contrast
13. LOVE safari's new address bar
But overall good job apple, it's a huge step to take and looks like the first iteration will go well.
[/review]
I don't see the purpose or how it's useful. You can't see what's behind it. You don't even get an impression. So it's just squinty-visual noise.
That said, once you've slid it up it's just squiggly noise that's damn near impossible to draw type on legibly.
If you look at control center - the flashlight glows green and the camera red. Why? Because some arbitrary icon that you can't even make out is that color behind it. I find that really odd.
Even if you could actually make out what's behind the layer, I don't see the utility (and I'd argue it's even more distracting).
The physicality of iOS 7 wasn't clear to me until I watched the video demo, and it's very impressive: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-7-video-jony-ive-20...
