Redesign an existing design system that identifies user needs, addresses pain points & friction.
ROLE
The entire project from concepts to design, coding, and animations were created by Michael Calcada.
Featured on:
After completing this project, I uploaded a short promotional YouTube video showcasing the new features I am purposing. My video recieved over 30,000 views, and the project has been picked up by many new sources such as
MacRumours,
BGR,
iClarified,
iPhoneinCanada,
MacMagazine, MacLife,
Mashable's Snapchat Story, and many more!
This is an ongoing project I plan to update every year. With iOS having a major release every year, this project lends itself well to constant updating to refine my ideas, update the project to the newest Apple design standards, and apply what I have learned throughout the year to this project.
Challenge
Redesign an existing design system to identify user needs, address pain points, and add new features & improvements.
I chose to revolutionize how we use an iPhone while maintaining continuity throughout my concept and staying true to the core of what makes iOS an Apple product. Redesigning iOS is a unique challenge for an individual to pursue as it is a multifaceted system developed by hundreds of people with different roles, and my concept had many different goals I wanted to achieve.
GOALS OVERVIEW RESEARCH UX UI
Project Goals
With a timeframe of one semester (6 weeks) of an interactivity course, I set out to conceptualize and mockup the various additions to the operating system I believe are essential to redesigning iOS. Some of my proposed changes include the implementation of augmented reality, a redesigned notification system, new customization and personalization, and general improvements and new features. To begin the project, I set four main goals to complete.
If you would like to see my process click here, otherwise keep reading below.
GOALS OVERVIEW RESEARCH UX UI
Redesigning iOS
Everyone uses an iPhone differently, every user has different apps, needs, and ways they use and interact with their digital content on iOS devices. Furthermore, our devices are becoming smart, faster, and better at understanding our world, allowing for new technologies such as augmented reality to be explored. My goal this project was to address user needs that currently do not exist in iOS and add much needed features and improvements.
THE CURRENT STATE OF AUGMENTED REALITY
AR is being used every day in popular applications from Pokémon Go to Snapchat Filters, but mainstream AR apps are not as popular as they could be. Currently, Apple does not make any native AR applications, but has created a platform for third-party developers to utilize ARKit and put AR applications on the App Store. I propose Apple include AR versions of most of the native iPhone applications that are location and situation-aware by utilizing the camera, GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope, and other API’s needed to create these new AR experiences. With the device utilizing AR, this can provide contextual information from the camera in combination with Siri understanding and relaying the most important and relevant information to the user. The more Siri learns about the user, the better the AR experience will become as it will show you places you frequent and information you find valuable based on your schedule, routine, interests and more.
REDESIGNING AUGMENTED REALITY & SIRI
At WWDC 2017, Apple released ARKit along with iOS 11 to allow developers to create Augmented Reality applications on iOS devices. When iOS 11 launched on September 19th 2017, users began downloading the update and iOS became the world’s largest AR platform overnight. With ARKit currently capable of running on close to a quarter of a billion devices, Apple has a unique opportunity to push the technology further.
I believe iOS could be improved by creating an operating system with Augmented Reality at the core of the experience, being accessible with a simple swipe down on the home screen. This will be done by creating an advanced search through SiriKit and ARKit (two of Apples native SDK’s) that when used together brings object recognition and a constantly learning Siri to help the user not only understand what is going on digitally on their phone, but what is physically around them in their real world.
Ultimately, Apple should continue to invest in mobile augmented realitybecuase of their massive user base allowing for an estimated 200 million existing AR-ready phones (iPhone 6 and up running iOS 11 or later). There are countless examples of this from hardware changes such as dual-lens cameras, the removal of the headphone jack, and the addition of a notch now seen in competitors devices, to software features such as an app store, mobile voice assistants, and creating an Augmented Reality API. With the proven track record of pushing different technologies forward, I believe AR will be crucial for the iPhone as AR is the next form of human-computer interaction.
USER PROBLEMS WITH NOTIFICATIONS
The first and most vocally complained about feature of iOS is the unintuitive Notification Center. The current Notification Center works by showing your most recent notifications as they come, in their own separate notification organized by chronological order. These can later be seen by swiping down on the homescreen or swiping up on the lock screen to see a list of all notifications. This can get overwhelming when you have lots of apps with notifications and the current solution simply does not work for most users. It is also not a smart design decision as separatenotifications take up more screen real estate than if they were grouped. There also is no way to tell if you have unread notifications or which apps have them without swiping between pages and looking for notification badges.
REDESIGNING THE NOTIFICATION EXPERIENCE
As many users download and use lots of apps, I created a new system for managing notifications called the notification hub, which prioritizes notifications and groups them accordingly. The new Notification Hub is designed to be intuitive and easy to use so you never have to scroll to find the notification you want. The new interface shows the icon with a notification badge for each app that has unseen notifications. Simply tap the app you would like to see or tap view all to view all your notifications grouped by application. The Notification Hub is available on the lockscreen or a swipe down from the status bar with its new color-matching grouped notifications to help make your notifications stand out.
Notifications can now be presented to the user as individual and grouped instances. This new group is a visual container of multiple notifications that take up less screen real estate as well as being expandable or collapsible
The status bar now shows a numbered Notification Dot, similar to that on the Apple Watch to indicate there are unseen notifications in your hub. With the new always-on lockscreen, your iPhone shows this Notification Dot along with a quick preview of the time and battery, as well as the notification dot.
INTRODUCING DARK MODE
The introduction of the iPhone X provided the perfect opportunity to add dark mode natively to iOS. The new iPhones feature OLED screens, meaning individual pixels can turn off when black, saving battery and being more efficient. As a result, dark mode is not only better on the eyes, but better on your battery.
CONTROL CENTER
The next area I found a lack of customization is Control Center. As the current Control Center allows the user to enable or disable some of the default toggles provided by Apple, this is a waste of potential as the Control Center is a users hub for quick toggles and shortcuts important to them. As this ranges from user to user, customization such as adding third party toggles and removing the currently non removable toggles would add an extra layer of customization to iOS.
CUSTOMIZING THE CONTROL CENTER
An example of this would be allowing the user to add or remove any Control Center toggles they may never use, allowing third-party application developers to create Control Centre toggles similar to 3D touch actions and widgets. By Apple allowing developers to do more with their apps and by providing access to more the phones software could provide new and helpful experiences that will benefit users without them having to jailbreak their device or download inferior widget alternatives.
UNPERSONALIZED DEVICES
As a tech enthusiast and designer, I love customizing interfaces and tweaking my device experience to fit my lifestyle. This may not be the case for other users who prefer to use their device solely for social media, news, or simply communication. As there are 700 million iPhones currently in use worldwide, creating an operating system for everyone is a difficult task. The way Apple dresses this is by prohibiting iOS to allow for user control such as limiting third-party applications outside the App Store, preventing customization, limiting features for the newest devices, and putting aside innovation in favour of familiarity through their controlled ecosystem, which I believe is user hostile.
ADDING CUSTOMIZATION & PERSONALIZATION
An example on how iOS could add customization and personalization would be providing users simple and easy to use features such as enabling vertical scrolling on their home screen, disabling icon labels, changing icon shapes, or customizing what information is available in the status bar. Simple changes that do not require an additional “customization app store” or learning curve while providing more customization is a compromise that allows for user customization while maintaining Apple’s “walled-garden” ecosystem.
This will also help users who are invested in the Apple ecosystem whos family and friends use exclusive services like iMessage and FaceTime, but still want the advantages of similar Android phones can bring such as personalization and new features. My redesign addresses this issue by allowing more options for customizing your device by bring these must needed features to iOS.
VISUAL INCONSISTANCIES
Since the introduction of a flat design style implemented in iOS 7, iOS has had visual inconsistencies that I will be addressing in iOS AR. As seen below, the icons gradients go in different directions and the design style ranges from extremely flat to semi-flat, lacking continuity.
CREATING A NEW VISUAL DESIGN SYSTEM
iOS AR features icons I designed that promote a semi-flat aesthetic throughout the OS. To do this I created a guideline file where all assets utilize the same gradients, sizes, and shadows to promote continuity throughout the OS.
USER PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT GESTURES
The gestures introduced to the iPhone X in iOS 11 completely replaced the home button and its associated functions for an all screen display. I believe this is the right direction for mobile devices as closing an app and accessing multitasking are easy swipes up from the corners or middle of the screen. There is one problem and major gripe about these new gestures which was the relocation of Control Center from the bottom to the top right. This is a problem as most users do not have large enough hands to swipe down from the top right of the new taller device to access what should be easy and convenient toggles.
By putting Control Center at the top of the display is user hostile as it is more difficult to reach and the toggles themselves are higher up, resulting in the user having to change how they are holding their phone to do a simple action such as enabling a flashlight toggle. This is going to cause bigger problems with the release of the rumoured a plus sized iPhone X device as the plus series phones make it near impossible to reach the status bar with one hand, and with a taller aspect ratio on a bigger screen, this gestures and will be even more user-hostile.
MAKING GESTURES MORE FUNCTIONAL
The new gestures I am proposing in this redesign address the issue of an unreachable Control Center by relocating it to being a swipe up from the bottom right, keeping other gestures the same, and adding a new one.
REDESIGNING THE MUSIC APP
There are many improvements and changes I am proposing in the way iOS works to benefit the user every time they interact with their iPhone. As some users may enjoy features more than others, this redesign focuses on making more features for more users so there is something new for everyone.
GOALS OVERVIEW RESEARCH UX UI
Researching iOS
My design process for this project began by researching the fundamentals of how both Android and iOS operate, users favourite features, and what were the most vocal complaints and annoyances with each OS. I began by researching and understanding the iOS 11 guidelines, which helped me conceptualize my mockups in a way that were true to Apple's standards while creating my own style. This allowed my concept to be being different enough that it was a clear upgrade to how the current operating system looks and feels but with a unique spin to it. I then developed a list of what I believed were the most important features, improvements, and changes that needed to be addressed. The main improvements I am proposing in my redesign of iOS are:
- Augmented Reality and Siri implemented at the core of the device - A redesigned notification system - New ways to personalize your device - General improvements and new features.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
To begin this project I started to research and better understand how other mobile operating systems work, and what features make the software successful or where the software is lacking.
Android has always prided itself on offering users the ability to customize their device any way they see fit, from changing the size and layout of their icons and home screen to choosing a custom system font. As iOS does not natively provide customization and personalization to the operating system, the only options users have to get these features are jailbreaking their device or switching to Android. Android allows for lots of customization both with and without rooting the device. A stock Android device comes with many ways to customize the phones os such as the ability to place icons or widgets anywhere on the phone, live and parallax wallpapers, customizing the lock screen, the changing of default applications, the ability to disable or enable features, and many more.
Android also offers users the ability to install launchers; a downloadable tweak that provides immense customization not only to the home screen of your phone, but everything from custom icons, animations, applications, tweaks, settings, themes and more. Ultimately, Android offers users a plethora of customization into every aspect of the phone at the risk of lowered security, battery life and performance. These are issues that are important to note when finding a happy medium between Apple's lack of customization juxtaposing Android's ability to change anything about the operating system.
Augmented reality is a large part of this redesign as it is accessible right from the home screen. As there are currently no smartphones that offer augmented reality built into the core of the operating system, the closest competition to research is between Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore. Both of these SDK’s are made for third third-party developers to create applications to run on iOS and Android devices respectively. These platforms exist to showcase the potential of AR in the hands of developers around the world to push the technology and its uses in new and innovative ways. I have challenged this approach as I believe that having native software built into the operating system will provide for a contextual relationship between the digital and physical world. The technology of augmented reality along with artificial intelligence, in this case a more intelligent and contextual Siri, can provide new ways of replacing text-based search with visual and location aware search. This provides a better context for the user and will use machine learning to learn what information is relevant in both your digital and physical life.
GOALS OVERVIEW RESEARCH UX UI
UX Process
My initial sketches helped me conceptualize how I wanted to operating system to look and feel in a low-fidelity way to help me visualize these areas of improvement. These sketches were the cornerstone to pursuing these concepts and what began the long journey of redesigning an operating system.
After my sketches, I began creating flowcharts to understand the user journey of interacting with my proposed changes to iOS. I began by exploring how to interact with the new augmented reality mode where it is not reliant upon a specific application but could be accessed by any part of the home screen. I did this by experimenting with how the user begins this journey and what gesture will invoke this new mode, to then planning which tabs will be visible and what type of contextual cards will be shown.
AUGMENTED REALITY FLOWCHART
To begin tackling one of the largest pain-points of iOS, while redesigning notifications had to explore the entire process of viewing notifications from the phone's screen being locked, the lock screen visible, as well as in notification center. This meant redesigning the entire way we receiveand interact with notifications on iOS.
NOTIFICATION HUB WIREFLOW
Final Thoughts
Ultimately adding augmented reality to the home screen, redesigning the notification experience, adding customization and improving control center, fixing continuity throughout iOS, introducing dark mode, improving gestures and redesigning apps to be more user friendly are the areas I chose to address. I wanted to address the usability problems with the current version of iOS by adding much-needed features, both to boost functionality as well as add new features that create a new and more personal experience between a user and their iPhone.
Thanks for reading about this project, I hope you enjoyed! If you haven't already, check out the promotional video showcasing iOS AR or its accompanying product site.