After 12 years, after the change from “skeuomorphism” to “flat”, Apple seems to be laying out for the next era. This expressive digital material not only makes the interface vivid and natural, but also redefines the user-device interaction experience through intelligent color changes, dynamic feedback, and real-time light and shadow effects. However, this design has also sparked a lot of controversy: some people think it’s breathtakingly beautiful, while others think it’s seriously problematic in terms of usability. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the design concept, technical implementation and far-reaching impact of “liquid glass” on the future, and explore what kind of big game Apple is playing next.
After 12 years, following the earth-shattering change from “skeuomorphism” to “flat”, Apple has once again launched a new design language – Liquid Glass. Apple seems to be leading a new wave of design trends, and UI designers have more room to play (for a while).
For a time, the design circle exploded for the first time in a long time. Previously, there were fewer and fewer discussions about UI on major platforms, and there were fewer and fewer works. Now I go to Medium, Dribbble, Behance and other platforms to discuss the Liquid Glass style and UI work all at once.
Screenshot of Dribbble
My circle of friends and major design platforms have been swiped by all kinds of imitations, analysis, praise and complaints in the past few days. Some say it’s “breathtakingly beautiful, the future of design,” while others call it “bells and whistles, it’s a disaster for usability.”
This feeling is very similar to the scene when iOS 7 was first released in 2013. At that time, the skeuomorphic style of the Jobs era was flattened, and everyone was also wailing, saying that the new design was ugly and lacked texture. But the result? Apple used its own persistence to turn “flattening” into a style trend standard for the entire industry. We have all become imitators and obediently “really fragrant”.
After 10 years of interaction design, why did I transfer to product manager?
After the real job transfer, I found that many jobs were still beyond my imagination. The work of a product manager is indeed more complicated. Theoretically, the work of a product manager includes all aspects of the product, from market research, user research, data analysis…
View details >
So this time, will history repeat itself? Is this controversial “liquid glass” a willful show of Apple or is it laying out for the next decade?
Today, let’s not talk about those obscure technical terms, just like a friend chatting, take a good look at the inside and outside of this “liquid glass”.
1. What is this “liquid glass”?
First, forget about that static “frosted glass” effect in your phone. Apple is playing much more advanced this time.
The official definition of it is: an “expressive digital material”, inspired by Vision Pro, with the goal of making the digital interface feel “natural and alive”.
To put it bluntly: Apple wants your mobile phone interface to no longer be a cold “skin” pasted on the screen, but a layer of living, breathing, and flowing glass.
It has several particularly interesting features:
1) It will “see”. This layer of glass is translucent, and instead of being fixed, its color intelligently “sucks” the color of the lower wallpaper or content. If your wallpaper is a blue sky, it will have a faint blue color; The wallpaper is the sunset, and it is dyed a warm orange. Moreover, it can automatically adjust its “skin tone” in dark and light modes.
2) It “moves”. This is the key to what it calls “liquid”. It is not a hard piece of glass, but like a drop of water with tension. Your fingers touch and slide, and it creates ripples, streamers, and deformations, giving your operation a silky, chewy feedback.
3) It will be “reflective”. This is the most amazing point. When you tilt your phone slightly, you’ll notice that the highlights of those glass elements on the interface flow with your angle, just like glass in the real world. This is not a simple sticker, but a real-time rendering of light and shadow effects through the phone’s gyroscope and powerful chip.
To put it simply, Apple is trying to use game engine-level rendering technology to reshape the operating system interface we use every day, bridging the final sensory divide between the virtual world and the real world. Sounds cool, right?
2. What is the Apple picture? Why should a good flattening be overthrown?
This question has to start with history.
The earliest iPhones used a “skeuomorphism” design. The calendar app is leather textured, and the memo is yellow sticky note. Why? Because touch screens were a new thing at that time, Apple needed to teach us how to use them with things we were familiar with. This is called “form-following function”, which is designed to simulate reality.
Later, everyone used smartphones, and those complex textures and shadows looked a bit “earthy” and “bulky”. As a result, iOS 7 brings a “flat” design. Minimalist icons, vibrant colors, and brisk animations, all for information and efficiency. This was a huge step forward at the time, but it also sacrificed things like the intuition of the operation and the layering of the interface. Sometimes, you can’t even tell if you can order something.
More than ten years have passed, and the hardware performance and chip computing power of mobile phones are no longer what they used to be. Apple feels that it is time to start a new chapter in software design. Apple has always believed that “deep integration of software and hardware” is the key to creating intuitive, beautiful and fun technology experiences. Since my hardware is so good, I can ray tracing in real time and can simulate physics, why does my software interface stay on a “flat surface”?
Therefore, the birth of “liquid glass” is an inevitable choice for technology development to a certain stage.
Apple’s goal this time is clear:
- It should be good-looking, cool. Create a design that brings pleasure and fun.
- Focus and individuality. Be more personal and put your core content at the center of your vision.
- Be familiar, don’t be unfamiliar. While giving it a new look, it makes you feel that “this is still the iPhone, I will use it as soon as I get started”, and the design must still maintain a certain continuity.
To put it bluntly, Apple is no longer satisfied with the “form following function”, it wants to advance to “form creation perception”. It not only wants you to complete tasks efficiently, but also wants you to feel an unprecedented, pleasant and vibrant “digital texture” in the process of use.
3. On the one hand, there are crazy calls, and on the other hand, there are overwhelming complaints
The emergence of a new thing is bound to be accompanied by controversy. This “liquid glass” is simply full of controversial value. These views are very interesting and worth thinking about, and I have collected them from the Internet.
People who think they do well think that the main points are as follows:
1) The pinnacle of vision, the future is here.When most people see the well-designed promotional video, they will find this design “stunning”, “beautiful” and “full of futurism”. It pushes the expressiveness of materials to a new level. Especially after seeing the official explanation, I feel even more wow, what a good design.
2) Not only use, but also emotion.Some people feel that those flows, light and shadow and response are not only special effects, but also a kind of “emotional design”. It creates a deeper emotional connection with the user, making you feel that the phone is no longer a cold tool, but a spiritual companion.
3) Apple’s “muscle show”.This ultimate fusion of software and hardware, using the heavyweight technology of real-time light and shadow tracking on the UI, can still maintain smoothness, which is a naked technical show. Many people sighed: “Only Apple can do this.” “Then it depends on whether domestic Android manufacturers want to follow and whether they can keep up.
4) Strategic “bait”.There is an opinion that this beta version may be just a “hook” thrown by Apple, an idealized “North Star vision”. The purpose is to create a topic, stimulate the imagination of the entire industry, and set the tone for its future design direction. The final official version is likely to strike a better balance between cool and practical.
People who feel that they are not doing well feel:
1) “For the sake of coolness, I can’t even see the words clearly!” ”。 This is the core slot. Translucent UI elements are superimposed on colorful wallpapers or complex backgrounds, and the contrast between text and icons is extremely low, making it a “everyone is here to find fault”. This is a serious violation of the most basic principles of “usability” and “readability” of design.
Some people use the design analogy of landline phones to make a satire.
2) “It’s a huge step backwards in usability! ”。 If it is just a “bit eye-boggling” for ordinary people, then for users with visual impairments such as low vision and color blindness, this design is a “disaster”. It almost completely ignores the standards of the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and has been criticized as a typical “soundist” design – sacrificing the basic needs of most people, especially people with disabilities, for the sake of a cool experience for a few.
3) “My phone is going to be drained!” ”。 Real-time ray tracing, dynamic refraction, complex blur…… Behind these effects is the huge consumption of computing resources. The result is: the equipment heats up and the battery life plummets. This is not only contrary to Apple’s environmental protection philosophy, but even suspected of “planned scrapping”, using the new system to drag down old devices and force you to change your phone.
4) “Lin Chiling in the promotional video, Luo Yufeng got it”。 Many people point out that this is an “over-design” that is out of touch with reality. It’s perfect in a well-chosen, clean background, but in our daily chaotic usage scenarios, it only makes the interface more cluttered, increasing your cognitive load and distracting you.
I think that controversy is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, the design is controversial, and most of the time it is better to keep it, because it can form a memory and be disseminated.
4. What kind of big chess game is Apple playing?
After talking about the good and bad on the surface, we have to look deeper. As a trillion-dollar company, Apple would never make such a major decision just because it “looks good”.
The real value of “liquid glass” may not lie in whether it is good to use now, but in the future it points to. These are the three important pawns that Apple has laid for the future.
The first chess piece: the ultimate unification to create a seamless ecosystem
Apple has iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and now visionOS. Although they are all from Apple, the design language has always been a little fragmented.
The emergence of “liquid glass” is like Qin Shi Huang’s “books are the same text, and the car is on the same track”. Its goal is to become a unified design language across all Apple devices. In the future, whether you’re using your phone, computer, or headset, you’ll have a cohesive and seamless experience. This game of chess is to dig deeper into the “moat” of Apple’s ecology.
The second chess piece: a “spatial computing” enlightenment movement with the participation of the whole people
This is probably the core intention. The design of “liquid glass” is not prepared for this 2D flat screen in our hands at all, and its “hometown” is in the 3D space of Vision Pro.
Imagine that in the world of Vision Pro, the UI interface is suspended in the air, with front and back, far and near. At this time, the translucent nature of “liquid glass” becomes very reasonable, which allows you to see the interface clearly without completely obscuring the real environment. Its light, shadow and refraction allow you to clearly perceive the position and “sense of solidity” of this virtual object in space.
But on the 2D screen of the mobile phone, there is no Z-axis (depth), this design seems a bit “unacclimatized”, and the transparency effect will only interfere with the background content.
So why did Apple still move it to mobile phones?
The answer is: give us “user habit cultivation” and “technical rehearsal” in advance.
It is giving you “military training” in advance in a subtle way, on your mobile phone, so that you can get used to and understand the basic logic of spatial interaction:
1) Light and shadow refraction is training you to understand that “the interface is a three-dimensional layer”.
2) Dynamic depth of field is hinting at the existence of your Z-axis.
When AR/VR devices become more common in the future, you won’t be unfamiliar with it, because your brain has long been “formatted” by Apple. This move is played very deeply and patiently.
The third move: leave the interface for the real “smart” UI
The biggest feature of “liquid glass” is “dynamic”. Its transparency, color, animation intensity, are not written dead, but can be changed in real time.
What does this mean?
This means that it leaves a perfect “adjustable interface” for the future Apple Intelligence (Apple AI).
We can boldly imagine:
When you turn on “Focus Mode”, the AI will automatically reduce the dynamic effect and transparency of all elements, making the interface quiet and helping you focus.
When you’re looking at a sad photo, AI may analyze the emotion of the scene and automatically adjust the tone and saturation of the UI to set off the atmosphere.
AI can even adjust the layout and shape of controls in real time according to your usage habits, achieving a truly “sensory personalization” experience.
This is the most terrifying potential of “liquid glass” – it is not only a “skin”, but also a living interactive interface that can be driven and reshaped by AI in real time. Make digital experiences feel more natural and vivid, and set the stage for the next generation of Apple products. Written at the end
So, back to our original question: what do you think of Apple’s most important visual update this time?
Now, we can draw a clearer conclusion:
What “liquid glass” currently looks like in beta is indeed a “beautiful but seriously flawed” concept. It is aesthetically groundbreaking, but in terms of practicality and accessibility, it needs to be greatly optimized.
But it is more like a successful “thought experiment”. It has successfully made the entire technology circle and design circle start a profound dialogue and thinking around the “future of human-computer interaction”. It reminds all designers that innovation is important, but it should never come at the expense of the user’s basic right to use. True good design is finding that perfect balance between aesthetics, functionality, and inclusivity.
For Apple, this move is much more strategic than its current aesthetic significance. It is a future-oriented manifesto, a big gamble on the era of spatial computing, and a far-reaching layout for the integration of AI and UI. There is a lot of heated discussion on the Internet about Apple’s new design language, and there is a lot of criticism and praise.
Controversial designs are the ones that can be remembered. Like it or not, “liquid glass” has already left its mark on design history. As for what it will eventually evolve into, whether it will lead the next decade like iOS 7 or become a “beautiful bug” to be corrected, let time give us the answer.
And we are fortunate to witness all this happening.
