There’s been a lot of discussion about the macOS 11 Big Sur icons, much of it heated. Once again, Apple has managed to polarize opinion between those who are heaving a sigh of relief that Apple isn’t bringing completely flat design to the Mac, and those who are just heaving at what they consider ugly and inconsistent graphics.
One designer argued that Apple is on-trend with ‘neumorphism,’ but Apply Pixels icon designer Michael Flarup says this isn’t a new trend, but rather Apple bringing back fun and ‘judicious expressiveness’ to its visual design …
Flarup acknowledges the controversy, saying that this is inevitable.
He agrees with one argument made by Koloskus – that the flat design introduced in iOS 7 was a reaction to skeuomorphism – but doesn’t see this as the pendulum swinging the other way. He says rather than flat design was too constrained, and this is about breaking free of some of those bonds.
And he says Apple has already been moving away from totally flat iOS design for some time.
He illustrates this by contrasting iOS 12 with iOS 13.
Some feared that the next generation of macOS might go too far toward the minimalism of iOS.
Instead, he points to Apple’s revamped Human Interface Guidelines, and draws attention to one particular phrase in there.
Apple is, he says, ‘legalising’ expression.
Although the design language strongly encourages visual consistency, it doesn’t preclude judicious expressiveness.
The debate will no doubt continue. You can of course share your own thoughts about the macOS 11 Big Sur icons in the comments. And if you haven’t already done so, check out our video guide to 85+ macOS Big Sur changes and features.
