Clear and Tinted Icons Are a Hard Pass
Of the TidBITS readers who chose to respond to the poll, only 1% said they use clear icons on the Mac, and no one admitted to using tinted icons. On the iPhone, clear icons were twice as popular—a whopping 2%—and just 1% of respondents said they use tinted icons. Dark icons, which retain color, were slightly more popular, but still couldn’t exceed single digits, with 6% on the Mac and 9% on the iPhone.
Squircle Jail is one thing; redesigning icons to be assembled within Icon Composer is another. The latter makes a lot less sense but for supporting clear and tinted icons.
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No offence to anyone (including myself) but I'd say Tidbit's readership is at the more mature end of the spectrum.
I imagine a younger demographic might post somewhat different results but I have no idea how different.
@Niall yes but, you see, I’m not the one who’s out of touch. It’s the children who are wrong.
I get what you’re saying, but there’s also something to be said for throwing out decades of experience in human interface design.
The computers have changed, but the basic human navigation structures of the brain haven’t.
If the kids are right, then we should just be covering every inch of our screens in like and subscribe and comment and emoji and donate and every other button we can possibly think of.
That’s what passes for design these days. Maybe let’s not listen to the kids.
Let’s say it like this: on iPhone I was unable to get Apple level icon quality out of these icon settings.
First they ban distinctive icon shapes, then they allow a situation where users don't even have *colors* to distinguish icons from one another.
Where is the sense in that. Imagine if all road signs were the same shape and color. "Oh was that a stop sign, I thought it was a speed limit"
> Maybe let’s not listen to the kids.
I've never seen anyone of any age use any of these icon tinting features on any platform, Android, iOS, or anywhere else.
I use clear icons on my iPhone for one thing: they are part of my Sleep Focus settings. So if I absent-mindedly unlock my phone when I really shouldn’t be using it, the washed-out screen gives an immediate, calm reminder about that, without stopping me using it if I insist.
In the focus editor, you can choose which wallpaper + homescreen to use. Icon settings on iOS are per homescreen, so once you switch to that focus, the icon settings will apply.
