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Comment by ushakov | Hacker News Reader

> The HIG has merged its platform-specific guidance into a unified document, making it simpler to explore common design approaches while still preserving relevant details about each platform

i’m very much against this approach of generalizing design

instead of strict rule set they now offer some opaque suggestions

this is how material design lost its meaning

hopefully this decision won’t result with everyone implementing their own design language rather than using the standard the platform dictates

frankly, same design language across all apps is what makes me choose Apple software

this looks like an attempt to keep their design language to themselves while asking others to implement their own

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That quoted bit seems more like, IMO, that they're just unifying their HIG since the design across macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS are converging, partly due to the unified developer process for all of these platforms. It doesn't seem any more generalized than it has in the recent past. It's just that each platform previously had their own distinct design languages, which have been gradually reaching a shared state.

One can certainly argue against the merits of said convergence though. However, I don't see how this is any indication of them hoarding their design language for themselves.

fair point, but i still don’t see what the benefit of shared design system is when you have 4 different screen-sizes (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch) with unique capabilities for each platform?

Agreed, I'm not a huge fan either because something's gotta give and in my opinion, it's macOS in this case with how they've been iOS-ifying it year after year.

With that said, I do see the benefit if you primarily develop for Apple platforms to take advantage of their push for the "universal app" development where you can share most of the same code base and have a consistent UI/UX across all of their devices.

Funny as I've seen iPad users complain that their iPads are getting too much like Mac OS. At it's core Mac OS is not getting iOSified. Some elements are borrowing ideas from the other platforms. Some things that have been in need of change for a while are getting addressed. I think it is a good thing that Mac OS is finally getting some TLC.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. By iOS-ifying, I meant in terms of aesthetic (e.g. flat design), not necessarily in terms of workflow. I think that the flat, iOS-like design is worse for UX in a desktop context; just not to the point that it significantly changes the workflow. There's also iOS-ifying in regards to things like being more locked down, the introduction of the horrendous Touch Bar, redundant & useless Launch Pad, dumbing down apps like the iTunes >> Apple Music transition, etc.

With all that said, I should also supplement that the convergence does bring some nice enhancements like consistent experiences across things like iMessage, complimentary features like Sidecar, shared workflows like the upcoming Stage Manager for macOS and iPadOS, etc. Heck, there's even some iPadOS features that I wish macOS had, like Slide Over app instances. I'd love to have a small floating Safari instance that I could slide in and out of view while I'm primarily working in one app full-screen.

The benefit is consistent design and branding across platforms.

They're not eliminating design that leverages the unique capabilities of each platform, they're standardizing inconsistent shared design. It says as much in the second part of the text you quoted:

> making it simpler to explore common design approaches while still preserving relevant details about each platform

Can you elaborate more? Most of the 'specificity' I see missing just lives inside SwiftUI and IB now. The platform/OS manages so much layout automatically these days I think the 'design' work is moving up the abstracting ladder as well, or are you talking about something totally different?

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