When Apple unveiled iTunes 10, and along with it the new icon, I was disturbed (to say the least). I wondered what in the (warning: expletive!) hell Apple’s designers had been doing: did they make that icon ten minutes (perhaps ten is too much) before the keynote? I quiver at the thought of how ugly that iTunes 10 icon is - eww. It looks like something an acolyte of photoshop (or photoshappz) could have put together. Some will disagree, of course, but I don’t think those persons know much about icon design anyway. And yes, Apple wanted to get rid of the CD illustration since CDs are on the way out, but couldn’t they have at least tried a little harder?
Surprisingly we shouldn’t laugh or scoff at iTunes 10’s new icon; it is offended. And how do I know? Well, the new iTunes 10 icon created a twitter account and it doesn’t like all the hate it is receiving. On its twitter bio we are told, “[sic] Don't hate me cuz I'm new. I have feelings too!” I’m rather pleased Twitter is being put to such good use. Mr. Jobs doesn’t like the hate his poor icon is receiving either. In response to an email expressing discontentment with the new icon (and Steve Jobs loves to respond to emails), Steve simply wrote, “We disagree.”
Of course, I won’t stop using iTunes 10 because of this disastrous design work. Instead, I’ll do as I have always: I’ll change the icon. A number of really awesome iTunes 10 icon replacements have been made, and these put Apple’s to shame (it wasn’t that hard). My favorite iTunes replacement icon was made by Pedja Rusic of The IconBlock, but there are troves of high quality iTunes icon replacements. Should we expect anything else considering how ugly the new one is?
-Basil Polivka
I agree! The new icon is awful and I was displeased to see that such a terrible design came with a good upgrade to the program. However I did not know that it could be replaced. Thanks for the tip. My tool bar will soon be without the terrible disaster of an icon. It seems that Jobs is full of disappointment when it comes to addressing the public. He didn't do much to put customers at ease when the new iphone had problems and it seems nothing will be done to make iTunes customers happy either.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree! I was very disappointed when I saw the new iTunes icon, I truly thought to myself "is Apple serious about this?" They usually put a hell of a lot more time into their designs and the presentation of their products. I find the old iTunes icon to be far more appealing than the new one. It's funny how little things like these can actually become a big trending topic! (I was highly amused/impressed by the twitter account). I really enjoyed reading your entry, and thanks a lot for sharing different iTunes icon replacements! I'm gonna make good use of those =)
ReplyDeleteI have never liked any of the Apple Itunes Icons and you would think after all these years they would have put a lot of time into making the new icon a lot better. This Icon is no where near as good as I thought it would be but it is better than the original version. It seems like Apple has not been taking a lot of time lately to improve their products and really seem to be rushing stuff out. An example of this would ultimately be the Iphone 4 where it was dropping calls and had terrible reviews. If they would have taken more time to test it and to actually fix the problem they might have saved more money.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not theonly one who thought this when they first downloaded iTunes 10. Apple is dominating almost half of the tech marketplace so you would think that with all that money they could find someone, ANYONE, to come up with something better than that. As for the twitter post I just credit that to the people of Apples sense of humor, at last I hope. I thought that was just a clever way of them saying "Hey we know its bad, you know its bad, can't we all just lay off of it and enjoy our iTunes, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iMac, and anything else that starts with a lowercase i?"
ReplyDeleteI defiantly agree, this new icon is nothing I would have expected from the new software or updates iTunes is always bragging about. Although I did not know you are able to change the icons, so thanks for the tip! The ones that you showed on that website are a lot more appealing then the ones that the new update offers. I am actually surprised iTunes has not come up with a new update already and changed this icon with all the negative attention it seems to be getting, especially because it doesn't take long for them to have updates in general. I really liked your entry and thanks for showing me the website I will defiantly change mine soon too!
ReplyDeleteI was actually amazed that Apple would take such a leap with iTunes 10. I am also slightly ashamed to say that my first response to the icon was shock, and then appreciation. I've been staring at that stupid CD with the blue eighth note of a single musical step since 2002, when I bought my first iPod and downloaded iTunes. I personally think the old icon is ugly! It isn't aesthetically pleasing on Windows, mac, anything! I credit the designers of the logo-- it's gotta be pretty hard to get an icon through such a complex and particular approval process. A logo is everything-- the new iTunes logo is an illustration illuminating the fact that Apple is still very much confident in their products.
ReplyDelete--Molly Warren
I think the icon is not very good either. There have been a couple of different things on my Apple computer that have driven me crazy as well. It seems like the little stuff with Apple is sliding through on their systems. Good post!
ReplyDelete--Clay Chapman