(ding)
- Hey, can you take a look at this?
I've been staring at this battery icon
for the last nine hours
and I cannot figure out
why I hate it so much.
But I actually think I
had an epiphany recently.
So with you today, I
kinda want to break down
the new design of macOS 11 Big Sur,
and I want to look at the things
that could use some improvement.
So if you're ready, let's dive in.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, how are you all doing?
Really, that's just great.
You know, I'm doing
pretty great today, too.
So macOS 11 Big Sur is a
huge release from Apple.
It's not just a design update,
but it's also paving the way
for future Macs that are
based on Apple Silicon.
So there's a lot of big stuff here.
But as with any new design,
there's gonna be some issues.
It's just a beta right now,
but I kinda wanna look at it
and break it down and be nitpicky,
because I think there's some parts of it
that are a little bit ugly.
But hey, what do I know
about looks, right?
Eh, well I do know a little
bit about design, though.
So we're gonna take a look at that.
And I'm gonna start with the good stuff
just so I don't sound like a total dick.
Let's take a look.
So for starters, I do like
that new abstract wallpaper.
I think it looks nice, and
I think the Big Sur photo
wallpaper also looks really good.
But if you've seen the show before,
you probably know that I like to put
my own photography as the wallpaper.
So I decided to do that.
The Notification Center looks pretty nice.
It combines the widgets
and the notifications
into one view instead
of having them separate
like macOS Catalina, and the
Editor also looks pretty nice.
This part I think looks clean.
Also, the new sheets are pretty nice.
So instead of sliding out
of the top of the toolbar
like they have been since 2001,
they now kind of just pop up
in the middle of the screen
and they're still attached to the window
just like the previous sheets.
They just look a little bit
different, a little fresher.
I also like that an app can have
a dominant accent color assigned.
Just like in iOS, a
developer can make an app
and assign an accent color.
Pretty sweet.
But if you want, you
can override that color
with a color you choose
in the system preferences.
So those are some of the things I like.
Good, we got the good
stuff out of the way.
Now the part that everybody
loves: the complaining.
Just kidding, we're gonna
be somewhat constructive.
Or are we?
The first thing that stuck
out to me is the icons.
So Apple is definitely going
for that rounded square look,
just like they do with iOS,
and I'm kind of okay with that
and I don't think it's that bad.
There's some icons that
I think look really good.
I think the Automator icon looks great.
I think the Text Edit icon looks great.
But there's some icons that
they just, they feel off.
I'm looking at you, Messages,
particularly Messages,
FaceTime, the app store, stuff like that.
Apple for a long time has
had this flatter look.
And I think it's fair to say
Microsoft pushed that a lot
with their Windows style.
Everything got really flat.
So Apple started doing
this flat thing, right?
But they used to do
this skeuomorphic look,
more three-dimensional look,
and I think that looked good,
I think the flat stuff looked good.
It looks like they're trying
to combine that stuff now.
But for some of these graphical elements,
they kinda sit in the uncanny valley.
There's this awkward spot
between skeuomorphic 3D and flat,
where some of these designs are sitting
and they just don't feel right.
Now I know everyone's gonna
have a different opinion.
But I've already seen quite a few people
complain about these icons,
and I am in the same boat.
I think the main things that stick out
are the shadings with the gradients
and the excessive drop shadow.
So the way I see it is
a lot of these icons
have a flatter look, but
they have a little more depth
to them in some areas.
But then there's some of these icons
that just seem to stick out way further
because they have this more rounded 3D
extrusion kind of look,
and this bigger drop shadow
makes it look like the objects
are floating above a surface more.
I think that's what kinda
throws me for a loop,
and it looks a little weird in my opinion.
Something else I noticed that's similar
is with the Finder icon.
Yeah, I can see they're trying to go
for a more three dimensional
head look with that
like three quarter view
of the head rotation.
But it's in such a flat
style, at first glance,
it just looks like the
face is off center, eh?
So it seems like there's a
mixed bag of design languages
here in terms of the iconography.
And in the system preferences,
that's another great examples.
Some of the icons I
think look really great.
But then, there's one in
particular that really sticks out.
It's this bell.
It just has so much roundness
trying to stick out at you
and it has like this metal reflective look
where it looks almost too real.
And in my opinion, it
just kinda sticks out
and doesn't fit in very well.
So now we get back to that battery icon.
The icon in the system
preferences actually looks okay.
But when you actually open
up the Battery Health pane,
that's where you see the abomination.
So what's wrong with it?
Well, if you like it,
you like it, whatever.
But it just, it seems like it can't decide
what it wants to be.
In the older days, Apple had battery icons
that were very clearly cylindrical.
Recently, they went flat.
You can tell it's a basic
rounded rectangle flat shape.
Pretty simple.
This, though, I don't even know.
It's like it's flat and then it has a lump
and then it goes flat again.
It's like there's mixed
perspectives of like topology
in this battery graphic,
and it just feels weird to look at.
Again with the tip of the battery there,
it looks like it would
be a rounded 3D object,
but then it like blends
into a flat shape again.
So it's like you're round and then flat
and then round and flat.
And like it's just a weird mix.
Again, it's that uncanny valley
of this very interesting design language.
All right, enough about icons.
Let's talk about the menu bar now.
So the menu bar has pull down menus
that are now separate
from the menu bar itself.
Normally they're attached,
but now they kinda float
below the menu bar.
And as you'll notice, a
lot of stuff is round now.
Pretty much everything
has rounded corners now.
In my opinion, the rounded
corners being everywhere
is a little too much for me.
I think the moderation
that was in the last system
was okay, but now it's
like they want to round
every freakin' corner.
Again, there's some subjectivity there.
But let's look at some
objective things here.
Alignment, all right, so this
menu looks good, good, good,
and I'm gonna stop you right there.
See, this menu does not line up properly
with the highlight in the menu bar.
That is a little weird.
So I'm sure Apple will
fix that no worries,
but those kinda things,
attention to detail
wasn't really acknowledged there.
But again, it's a beta.
- And there's also no consistency.
- Another thing is the
highlights in the menu
when you mouse over an item
also have rounded corners,
but for some reason, not everywhere.
In right click contextual menus,
the rounded corners are there.
In the menu bar menus, the
rounded corners are there.
In the nock menus, suddenly
the rounded corners are gone.
So that needs a little fixing.
By the way, I do like the new drive icons.
Another thing I noticed
particularly with the Help menu
is sometimes the highlighted item
will just smash right
against the top of the menu
so you have two different shapes
directly touching each
other on that tangent,
which just, again, looks weird.
It's like two things are touching
that are not supposed to be touching.
So a little bit of spacing
there could be really nice.
Control Center is now in macOS.
I think it looks okay,
no big complaints here.
But the one thing is
I've noticed when you go
to navigate to a submenu
inside the Control Center,
there's not a real obvious
way to go back a page.
You have to click the title of
the setting you're changing,
like Keyboard Brightness,
and then it brings you
back to the main menu.
I think a little back arrow or something
would be super handy there for people
who don't know where to click.
All right, let's talk
about toolbars and windows.
So in Big Sur, one thing you'll see
is top to bottom sidebars that consume
the whole side of the window.
I think this is a little
bit of a space waster,
but I guess it's okay because now you have
a more dedicated spot to click and drag
your window right next to
the window buttons I guess.
But the toolbars look, I don't know,
this might just be me
needing to get used to it,
but the toolbars just
look really thick now,
almost too thick.
I guess that's just a personal preference.
But another thing I'm not a huge fan of
is these like button shapes going on.
I know they're replicating
some of the iOS stuff.
But it just looks weird that the buttons
are so close to each other,
and like when you click on one,
the spacing becomes even more minimized
and it's like those tangents are touching.
I don't know if I'm using that word right.
But you know, those lines are touching
where it looks like they
shouldn't be touching.
So again, a little more spacing there
would help a lot, in my opinion.
I've also noticed that
those tabs in toolbars
are inconsistent between certain apps.
I'm not sure if this is done on purpose,
but you can see the design
language of the tab bar
in the Photos toolbar
looks and behaves different
than the tab bar in say
the Activity Monitor.
Not sure why.
Maybe they're just
testing what works better
and they'll 86 the other one
and bring in the one that works.
I also noticed that
certain window controls
in some windows, like the
close button and everything,
are kind of too close to the edge.
It looks like they're about to fall off.
So hopefully, that gets
fixed a little bit, too.
So speaking of things getting fixed,
I'm all for people bringing
problems to the table.
But if you're gonna bring
a problem to the table,
bring a solution.
And the solution is
the Feedback Assistant.
Seriously, guys, whether
you're a developer,
I mean you probably know
this if you're a developer,
but you know, if you're a developer
or if you want to test the public beta,
use the Feedback Assistant.
Submit your suggestions to Apple
because they will change stuff.
When Mac OS X Lion came out
and it had that new user interface,
the design was getting tweaked
I think with every
single developer preview.
So Apple will make changes
to this, they will refine it.
I trust them.
But again, whether you're a developer
or just a public beta tester,
use the Feedback Assistant
and submit suggestions.
Speaking of feedback, I do want to know
what you think about macOS Big Sur,
because there's a lot of
big changes going on here,
so I want to know your thoughts.
And if there's any other ugly
things you want to point out,
do let me know in the comments down below.
Also, if you want to get
any other cool things
from myself and the Computer Clan,
we have some bonus goodies available
to members of the channel.
So you can go ahead and click
the Join button down below
or with the link in the description.
And when you do so, you will
also be supporting the channel,
so thank you very much.
If you like this video,
you know what to do.
Thanks for sticking with me.
Catch the crazy and pass it on.
(upbeat music)
