Liquid Glass Might Be One of Apple’s Most Divisive System Designs But

Apple revealed Liquid Glass as a part of its WWDC announcement this June, with all of the pomp normally reserved for shiny new gear. The press launch promised a “delightful and elegant new software design” that “reflects and refracts its surroundings while dynamically transforming to bring greater focus to content.” Today it launches globally onto compatible Apple devices.

If you haven’t encountered it but, brace your self. Inspired by visionOS—the software program powering the Apple Vision Pro combined actuality headset—Liquid Glass infuses each Apple platform with a layered glass aesthetic. This is paired with gloopy animations and a fixation on hiding interface parts when attainable—and displaying content material by them when it isn’t.

The response throughout the summer season’s public beta program was divisive. And whereas some folks simply hate change, Liquid Glass does invite criticism. Instead of sharpening focus, it too usually muddies it as a consequence of legibility points and distracting visible results. On Mac, controls are overly outstanding, but on iPhone, they’re relentlessly desperate to disappear into a brand new Apple tackle hamburger menus, denying customers the possibility to construct efficient muscle reminiscence.

At instances, Apple even verges on parody. Its press launch talked of “establishing greater harmony between hardware, software, and content,” which in observe usually means additional blurring the road between interface and content material and slapping large rounded corners that echo the iPad’s display onto each Mac and iPad window. The outcome: chopped-off content material and a baffling disregard for extra standard rectangles, probably the most environment friendly form within the historical past of multi-window computing.

Apple’s own press images champion a desktop devoid of color, making it tricky to distinguish between a row of “etched glass” icons.

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Style Over Substance?

Jonas Downey, designer of Hello Weather, doesn’t solely purchase Apple’s pitch: “I dig Apple and weird flashy stuff and am impressed with a lot of execution details in the glass concept. But the new interfaces feel complicated and overbearing, with Apple imposing its own aesthetic ideas on everyone else. I could get on board if there was an obvious benefit,” he provides, “but I haven’t seen one beyond the old adage that user interfaces should get out of the way of content. That’s a fine principle, but Liquid Glass too often does the opposite.”

He reels off an inventory of points. Translucent parts inflicting distraction. Low distinction making it tougher to distinguish components. Excess shading and dimension on buttons and tabs making them pop greater than the content material beneath them. This, he says, may end up in friction relatively than focus. “Liquid Glass splits the difference between flat and skeuomorphic design, landing in a fragile middle space,” he concludes. “By trying to become more floaty and deconstructed, the system ends up more visually complex.”

For Ben McCarthy, creator of Obscura Camera, there’s at the least promise within the “Liquid” a part of the equation: “Dynamic Island was praised for its fluidity—how it expanded and contracted like viscous ink. Liquid Glass seems born of similar thinking, in that animations should be fun, dynamic, and rooted in material behaviors—and that aspect is hugely successful.”

The “Glass” half, although? Not a lot. “Apple’s goal is to blend interface and content to reduce distraction, but I think Liquid Glass achieves the opposite,” McCarthy says. “It creates distortions that catch your eye as content scrolls. There are fundamental legibility issues, because Liquid Glass can’t control what passes behind it. And as the system tries to adapt, flipping between light and dark to stay readable, that only further adds to the distraction.”