[busymom0]

I like flat UI design and skeuomorphism too. However I am not a fan of what Apple's doing with half skeuomorphism in the latest MacOS. The new app icons look absolutely hideous. And based on anecdotal comments from others, I am not alone. Also them trying to make the MacOS app icons similar to iPadOS's rounded corner ones made it even worse.

[girvo]

> And based on anecdotal comments from others, I am not alone

While this case I'm in 100% agreement with you, in my experience I don't think I've ever seen any people I know like changes to icons!

[handrous]

The point of icons is to be able to quickly identify something—a button, an application, whatever. That's why people tend not to like changes to them—they're used to the current one, so changes make the icon less useful, at least for a while, and the more drastic the change the worse it is. Changes to a bunch of icons all at once are even worse, obviously.

Ditto other UI changes, like changes in menu or button layouts. People rely on things staying in the same place for speed and confidence using a UI. When they change, you slow them down and make them less confident. Of course people don't like that! Can you imagine the rage if every release of Ubuntu made the kinds of drastic, wide-ranging changes to various command line interfaces that operating systems and major GUI programs do routinely? I think it'd only take about two releases like that to kill the OS, market-wise, even if they managed to do it without breaking scripts and automation (to remove that difference) and even if there were some small benefits to the changes. But when GUI users complain about that stuff people get dismissive and roll their eyes.

[busymom0]

> That's why people tend not to like changes to them—they're used to the current one, so changes make the icon less useful, at least for a while, and the more drastic the change the worse it is.

For me, it's not just that. It's not just the "change" which I disliked. It's how ugly they are. The icons simply look very ugly with the shadows and other strange changes.

[Cthulhu_]

Or to further extend that, I've not seen any people like visual changes. Even though the science is there that the new design is better, people don't like change.

[squiggleblaz]

Which is one reason why (UI) engineers should be designing interfaces and prioritising usability, rather than artists who prioritise conformity with contemporary fashion and branding.

Appearance can certainly change, but the needs of the user, including for predictability, should be very important to the process of deciding to change and making the change. At the moment the reputation of the company and the artist are considered to the dominate over most other matters. It is simply reckless to do this at a time when public trust is so limited. It is the constant responsibility of everyone who acts in public to try and rebuild.