Latest Aperture update - all icons on toolbar now grey

I _like_ the reduced distraction of the colorless icons.

Repeating something I said in another post:

Lastly, IME, the shock of the change is the only bad part. Once I got used to the new "all gray" look, I found it to be an improvement. The old look now seems a bit Disney to me. Specifically, the old look colors now seem an unwanted distraction (I have no trouble hitting my targets now that my brain has adjusted), where once they seems a helpful aid. Work with it for a while -- you may be pleasantly surprised.

Just came across this today. When you are peeking into your aperture library from within Final Cut Pro X, it looks like this. I I like how the places are listed like their own folders split into states and locations. Am I missing something and not getting this in Aperture?

No, Aperture is grey. The 3.3 update UI refresh made it that way, and that's how it looks.

I got that part William. While I do want the old look back I was more referring to the very cool way that Final Cut Pro X was displaying the places from the Aperture library as seen in that photo.

I'm glad someone brough this up.

Why? Becuse for months on end I have been sending feedback to GO TO the MONOCHROMATIC look.

Why? I as a photographer (I am pro full time ) but even hobbyist was tired of Aperture icons starting to take the look of a childish drawn icon appearance - and in ALL nad ANY high end edoting software you WILL note that it's not some candy colored playgound.

Now if you like that childish look of colored icons that's great but my guess is you just migrated from iPhoto?

Nothing wrong witjthat but in reality you don't want colored icon distractions or at least NOT the way Apple had it in Aperture where the icons were the size of lego bricks.

Majority of users actually prefer the gray look but Apple has one more thing to do and that is give options of smaller icons. Sorry but for those wanting an amaturish look to a pro app should try something else.

Harsh words but probably majority ar happier with the new look.

William Lloyd wrote:

No, Aperture is grey. The 3.3 update UI refresh made it that way, and that's how it looks.

Cheap is the silly bubbly looking colored "dr seus" look. that's what cheap is.

If Apple plans on color icons it better be well drwan pro looking graphic and not the

conumer styled flat look the Windows NT icons had.

look at Lightroom or Capture Pro or any top end applictaions and you won't see cheesy colored icons.

iPjoto maybe but that is geared to Joe & Sally home-maker.

I get that a lot of people are preferring the monochrome look and I'm OK with that. Not sure why having color makes something look unprofessional but I'll leave it alone. I'm more interested in what people think of the screen cap I put up that shows how Final Cut Pro X treats the places information with the detailed look down the left column. See 4 posts prior for the image.

Sorry but for those wanting an amaturish look to a pro app should try something else.

For me the main question is not "amateurish look" but usuability. In an icon based graphical user interface it must be easy to distinguish the the icons at a glance. A touch of colour can help to distinguish similar shaped icons, e.g. folders from albums, if the icons are small and the shapes are hard to tell apart. Too many motley colours will be distracting and make the icons hard to recognize.

Form follows funtion. So for me the first question when discussing a design is "How it easy is it to use?" and "does it look good?" comes second.

+1

For me the main question is not "amateurish look" but usability. In an icon based graphical user interface it must be easy to distinguish the the icons at a glance.

leonieDF wrote:

...

For me the main question is not "amateurish look" but usuability. In an icon based graphical user interface it must be easy to distinguish the the icons at a glance. A touch of colour can help to distinguish similar shaped icons, e.g. folders from albums, if the icons are small and the shapes are hard to tell apart. Too many motley colours will be distracting and make the icons hard to recognize.

....

+1

Colour is a key enabler in GUIs, some of us are old enough to remember monochrome screens and the joy that came from colour. It would be a days work for Apple designers to include the old icon files with a theme selector "boring professional grey" or "Cheap amateur color" and I am afraid I would go with the second of those.

Color use is very tricky -- just as is the difference between "" and "Apple". Perception is rarely straightforward; apperception is always subtle and protean 😉 .

The finest UI I ever saw was on the NeXT machines. Going on memory, more useable and elegant and with greater information density than we get with OS X today. And totally grayscale.

I will admit that these are very valid points but UNTIL Apple's GUI team learn how to do this right it's best at monochromatic. For example JUST to let you know what was amateurish:

If you took a look at the "Mail" icon in AP3 color verison and then look at the "Mail" icon that resided in the apps folder or your dock, the one in the dock had a more "grown up" look where the AP3 icon looked like it belonged on some toy comanies website.or even the Loupe tool just any of the.

And believe me when I tell you this Apple was trying to look happy go lucky whimsical for those who were on the "home user hobbyist" to feel less intimitadated by "serious" looking icons. After all $199 price drop to $79 tells you too that they wanted all the jpeg shooters on board (nothing wrong with jpeg) just that AP3 or even Lightroom are RAW image converters.

But my big point is I will take color ONLY if Apple GUI engineers get away from that stupid bubbly drawing look,

that's my main gripe.

I do still love the monochrome more serious pro feeling of the new icons but Apple has consistency issues with icons appearnces.

And for a laugh , look at the "Air Drop" icon , honestly that's not something out of a comic book in the worlds mosy advanced OS?

I hope my point at least makes a little sense here :-) I want a Pro look in my Pro app color or monochorome.

Rather simple, no?

As far as performance and usability etc , I love AP3 and have used it Pro level from day 1 and it's improvements in performance are noticeable - for me any way.

Message was edited by: Falcon01

It's cute, but trivial. Note that for green-red colorblind people, the top picture is pretty much what they see. Yellow and blue would be much better choices (because yellow is high in tone, and blue is low, as well as because yellow-blue color blindness is thousands of times rarer than red-green color blindness.

Road signs are different shapes so that you can identify them from the back.

The on/off key on the new MBP is something else altogether (a single key -- not a switch -- that does different things depending on the current state of the machine and on the duration it is pressed).

UI design is _much_ more complex than the on/off switch you've used to illustrate your point.

😁 Aperture for the colour blind, that explains the new icon design philosophy! Seriously though, British machine control boxes normally have Off at the top (like our light switches) and unlike US road signs in Europe we never use words where symbols will cover it because of language proliferation. Colour reinforces the symbolism for the majority of normal sighted people and just makes life more beautiful. There's enough grey in our skies this summer....