You virtually must really feel sorry for Alan Dye at this level. It was fairly clear he anticipated information of his departure from Apple to be one thing of a bombshell, and Meta clearly thought their acquisition of Apple’s former VP of Human Interface Design can be perceived as a coup.
As a substitute, the prevailing opinion amongst Apple commenters seems to be succinctly summarized as a collective sigh of aid …
Bye, then
Dye made a slightly self-congratulatory put up on Instagram within the type of what many felt to be a wholly inappropriate quote from Steve Jobs.
Halide Digicam creator Sebastian de With was considered one of many to take concern with this.
Different commenters had been fast to choose up on the shortage of curly quotes, and the ultimate interval being outdoors of the quote as an alternative of inside it the place it belongs. Whereas these may very well be perceived as petty complaints, they actually don’t appear so on condition that one of many largest criticisms of Dye’s work was an absence of consideration to element. (Elias Datler was the unique supply of the screen-grab BAG used.)
Bloomberg carried one of many only a few experiences to painting the information as dangerous information for Apple.
Meta has poached Apple’s most outstanding design govt in a significant coup […] The transfer represents a major loss for Apple, which is already experiencing an exodus of expertise from its design crew, together with the exit of visionary govt Jony Ive in 2019.
The remainder of the web – and reportedly the remainder of Apple – not a lot.
The sentiment throughout the ranks at Apple is that right this moment’s information is nearly too good to be true. Individuals had given up hope that Dye would ever get squeezed out, and nobody anticipated that he’d simply up and depart on his personal.
Liquid Glass wasn’t the problem per se
To be honest to Dye, I don’t suppose this was about Liquid Glass per se. Sure, the brand new UI was as controversial as iOS 7 again within the day, however that’s inevitable with any dramatic change. Sure, there have been some main fake pas within the earlier variations of iOS 26, however once more it’s common for Apple to have to repair what you’d have thought had been slightly obvious errors in an preliminary launch.
I’m on document as saying that I personally suppose that Liquid Glass is, on stability, a welcome improvement. Certain, it has its glitches even now, however I do suppose it brings a welcome freshness to the look of Apple’s working methods and provides visible curiosity.
However even should you completely hate every thing about Liquid Glass, the duty for that can’t be laid at Dye’s toes: it in fact needed to be permitted on the very highest ranges inside Apple, and it was very clear from the keynote that the corporate feels happy with it.
Nevertheless, I do suppose it’s solely affordable responsible Dye not only for an absence of consideration to element, but in addition a reasonably constant sample of ill-considered usability selections. The position of some key UI components merely defied widespread sense, with a lot of them hidden away behind the notorious ellipsis.
It makes me optimistic for the long run
Previous to his promotion, Stephen Lemay was not a really well-known title outdoors Apple. It’s in fact no shock that Tim Prepare dinner has good issues to say about him on condition that the CEO seemingly made the choice himself.
Steve Lemay has performed a key position within the design of each main Apple interface since 1999. He has all the time set a very excessive bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s tradition of collaboration and creativity.
However Gruber’s report means that Apple’s new design head could be very properly considered all through the ranks.
Everybody I’ve spoken to is glad — if not downright giddy — on the information that Lemay is changing Dye […] A part of what made Stephen Lemay a well-liked selection inside Apple’s ranks is that Lemay, by all accounts I’ve heard, isn’t a political operator and by no means angled for a promotion to a stage of this prominence. His focus has all the time singularly been on the work.
This was backed by a direct quote from some of the long-standing of Lemay’s direct experiences.
Steve’s been my supervisor for my whole 15 12 months profession to this point at Apple and I couldn’t be extra excited for this new period.
A contemporary design chief with a repute for specializing in particulars, and with the seeming assist of the remainder of the design crew, makes me really feel extraordinarily optimistic for the long run. The speedy job is to type out the extra obvious points with the latest software program upgrades, however I’m additionally wanting ahead to discovering over time Lemay’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for Apple design.
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