Designers speak out about Apple’s Liquid Glass design

3 weeks ago 3

Designers speak out about Apple's Liquid Glass design language

With such a significant update to the look and feel of Apple devices, it’s not surprising that design and UI professionals have things to say about the new Liquid Glass design language.

As you might expect, views are mixed, but it’s notable how willing people are to give Apple time to refine the look based on reactions to the early betas …

Wired spoke to a number of designers, and most see it as a bold and fresh look.

Serhii Popov, a design-first software engineer at MacPaw […] is overall enamored with this “really fresh” look from Apple. “I think it will make everything look bigger and allow you to read or interact with the UI with more comfort,” says Popov. For him, the new design and updates look especially sleek on iPads […]

Josh Puckett, cofounder of Iteration, thinks the shift away from flatness is the right design move. “I’m excited that Apple is reintroducing feelings to their digital surfaces, creating interfaces that shimmer, bend, and breathe.” Puckett hopes this ignites a larger design trend of more expressive, experiential software […]

Allan Yu, a product designer currently building the workplace messaging app Output, appreciates the “beautiful” new aesthetic.

But there was also a clear consensus that the look has major readability issues in its current form. The general view is that Apple will likely dial things back significantly before launch, for example making backgrounds less transparent.

9to5Mac reader views echo the two sides of this coin.

“Visually, it’s impressive and presents beautifully at first glance—but in actual use, I find it quite distracting. There’s a lot of movement and shifting elements, which makes the interface feel busy and harder to focus on. Hopefully future iterations dial things back a bit or offer more control over the animations and effects.”

“I’m excited for the new look.”

“It may look amazing, but I see a lot of usability issues with it.”