Android has its widgets and Windows Phone has its live tiles but, for the most part, iOS still feels very static. In an effort to address that, user interface and branding architect Jay Machalani recently created an incredibly in-depth re-envisioning for what he believes iOS 8 should look like. No, this isn’t what Apple is going to unveil next week during WWDC 2014, but it does show what could be possible if the company was just a bit more liberal with its user interface design.
Machalani tweaked the icons just a hair in a way that he believes helps iOS 8 “feel more integrated, more unified and more true to itself.” He also addresses the lack of widgets with a concept called ‘iOS Block” a custom widget that you can interact with. He provides examples of blocks for the weather, the music player with album art and controls, the calendar, iMessages, photos and more. Each block can be adjusted on the home screen and can be expanded from the original icon. So you can pinch out the iMessages icon to see a preview of all of your texts, for example, or pinch the calendar icon to see a view of your day’s appointments.
We love what we see, but it’s unlikely Apple will ever implement these kind of sweeping changes. Who knows, though? iOS fans have been clamoring for a more “alive” homescreen for years now, maybe Apple will one day listen.
