Alan Dye leaving Apple for Meta.

Jimmyjames

Jimmyjames

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Didn’t expect this and not sure how I feel about it. He was very unpopular in certain circles but I didn’t agree with some of the criticism. That being said, choosing to work at Meta. Ewwww.

 
I hear that Meta has been offering double salaries to folks on Apples AI infra team. I mean, sounds dumb to take a job at a place actively working on making you obsolete, but what do I know.
 
Had to look this up, he designed the new liquid glass look? I have to admit I haven't actually upgraded my little 12 mini yet, so I have yet to experience it myself. Is there anything else he did that made him unpopular? Or just that?
 
dada_dave said:
Had to look this up, he designed the new liquid glass look? I have to admit I haven't actually upgraded my little 12 mini yet, so I have yet to experience it myself. Is there anything else he did that made him unpopular? Or just that?
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As I understand it, Dye is criticised for being a poor UI/UX designer. A great deal of blame is based on Liquid Glass but even before that some didn’t like his influence. He’s not a traditional software designer, having started with handbags (I believe).
 
dada_dave said:
Had to look this up, he designed the new liquid glass look? I have to admit I haven't actually upgraded my little 12 mini yet, so I have yet to experience it myself. Is there anything else he did that made him unpopular? Or just that?
Click to expand...
just a lot of general usability regressions across Apple’s software in the last few years. Hiding interface elements for no good reason, etc. He’s a “make things look pretty” guy, not a human-machine interactions guy.
 
Lots of information about why this is fantastic news here:

daringfireball.net

Bad Dye Job

It might have made some sense to bring someone from the fashion/brand world to lead software design for Apple Watch, but it sure didn’t seem to make sense for the rest of Apple’s platforms. And the decade of Dye’s HI leadership has proven it.
daringfireball.net daringfireball.net
 
Cmaier said:
Lots of information about why this is fantastic news here:
Click to expand...

Let's hope an actual interface designer can bring usability back on track. Lately, look was more important.
I still don't understand why everything had to be ironed flat when macOS originally tried to make clear what a button or a fillable text field is.
 
KingOfPain said:
Let's hope an actual interface designer can bring usability back on track. Lately, look was more important.
I still don't understand why everything had to be ironed flat when macOS originally tried to make clear what a button or a fillable text field is.
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Apple traditionally combined aesthetic visuals and excellent usability. I think Aqua is still the pinnacle of their UX, it was just so clean and elegant.

What earned them the top spot in industrial design was IMO the focus on removing and streamlining the elements until the UX was just right. Sadly, that hasn’t been the main theme for a while.

The thing is, I do believe that Liquid Glass has potential. It’s a neat effect that can enhance the visual hierarchy, and is a welcome change from the years of flat emotionless controls. But the current system is just too cluttered a d too inconsistent. I want the return to minimalism that doesn’t sacrifice aesthetics and the “configurability is the root of all evil” design principle.

I was not able to find comprehensive information about Stephen Lemay, who will allegedly take over, aside the fact that he has been with Apple for a while. Let’s hope this signals the return to best design practices while keeping up with today’s lessons.
 
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See my link to gruber above. The new guy in charge is an actual UX guy who has been at Apple for a very long time, and people have high hopes.
 
In many ways I like Liquid Glass. My issue is the platform I care the most about: the Mac, is the platform where it has the most issues.

My hope is the new team cares about it more than the old team.
 
rdrr said:
Does anyone have the Meta glasses? Do you need to be in the meta-verse to use them?
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Since they don’t have display functionality, i don’t understand the point of them.
 
rdrr said:
Does anyone have the Meta glasses? Do you need to be in the meta-verse to use them?
Click to expand...

It's the perfect gift for the person who wasn't beat up enough in school.

GettyImages-2173579243-e1727340980277.jpg
 
Cmaier said:
See my link to gruber above. The new guy in charge is an actual UX guy who has been at Apple for a very long time, and people have high hopes.
Click to expand...
I find there’s a learning curve for Apple’s OS updates every year just to use existing features, when the UI seems to change for no apparent reason.

It’s a problem on iOS, but even worse on macOS. For example, since the system settings interface changed, I often have to use the search bar to find what I need. I hope Lemay takes a different tack.

IMO, the best improvements have been to visionOS, which has come far since the first release, though there’s a lot still missing.
 
Cmaier said:
More evidence that this is very good news:

9to5mac.com

Acclaimed Apple designer says he ‘could not be more excited’ for new design era

An acclaimed long-time Apple designer says he ’could not be more excited’ about Steve Lemay taking over design leadership from Alan Dye.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
Click to expand...

Considering the dynamic island is actually a pretty good piece of minimalist UX, I'm willing to listen to see what happens next. Especially if he's an interaction designer more than visual designer as suggested. It's the interactions and the thought behind them that have been weak the last few years, IMO. More attention there would be very welcome.
 

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