Learning iOS Design: A Hands-On Guide for Programmers and Designers

9. The Gracious Interface

This is where iOS 7’s emphasis on the principle of clarity leads to some significant changes. Cues based on real-world materials and devices were helpful for informing users about what to interact with (“This 3-D-looking thing is a button”) and how to interact (“These buttony-looking things can be pushed; these grooved things can be dragged”).

But iOS 7 takes the position that those cues were not worth the visual noise, fussiness, and old-fashionedness they introduced to the interface. Instead, Apple seems to be giving us designers the benefit of the doubt that we’ll be able to make elements look interactive with fewer tools at our disposal. And they’re giving users the benefit of the doubt that they’ll be able to recognize ...