[currysausage]

I believe your answer is a little emotional considering that I only suggested making three icons a little less bulky. Generally, however, I do share many of your sentiments towards today's UI design.

> A cell phone's screen is not a fashion statement, nor a work of art! It's a tool!

Exactly. And if the 4″ screen just threw all availabe information at you, lacking any visual hierarchy, it wouldn't be a very useful tool. Information design serves a purpose beyond making things look better.

And yes, good information design can mean making things look less slick. Helvetica Ultralight in iOS 7 definitely looks slick. And I guess we both agree that its readability is subpar. It is a very unfortunate UI design trend to value slickness higher than utility.

I don't want to make these icons any less useful, and I certainly don't want to hide them away. As a matter of fact, if Google were planning to do so, I would protest as loudly as you do. I'm not at fault for "everything that's wrong with software and UI design today." I'm just a friend of solid information design.