Apple’s switching to square icons ahead of iOS 7 announcement

Ahead of the big iOS7 announcement at WWDC this month, Apple’s developer portal has started displaying square icons, ditching the familiar rounded-corner icons that have epitomized the iOS UI aesthetic since its inception. Everybody is expecting a big UI shakeup from iOS7 on the aesthetics front. Both Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall originally had heavy hands in the look and feel of the iOS interface, but neither remain in a position to influence its design further. Jobs has now tragically passed away and Forstall, former head of iOS development, has left Apple, leaving Sir Jony Ive in charge. It’s no secret that Ive is a lover of simplicity and no fan of iOS’ current skuomoph-centric style. If Ive has been attempting to ‘modernize’ the iOS look, as we all expect, then sharp corners would be an understandable consideration. Both Windows Phone and Android have embraced borderless squares and rectangles in their interfaces and both have been praised for their aesthetic appeal. Ive may have sensed the direction in which the wind was turning and set sale accordingly. That being said, the screenshots we’ve seen aren’t too encoraging. Just because a certain approach looks good on one OS doesn’t mean it’ll suit another. Square icons on iOS may very well end up making the system look more dated, rather than timeless and new. This new iOS is much flatter than the old. There’s no shading around the icons hinting at 3D depth. The whole thing is, frankly, a little boring. It’s important to remember that what we’re seeing here is unlikely to be a strong indicator of exactly what we’ll see from iOS7. If the new icons are indeed square then there’s bound to be other changes designed to compliment the look as a whole. Image credit: Apple Insider