Apple reveals a new logo for its developer conference. Is it any good, and what does it tell us about the future of the iPhone?
Does this unusual logo design hold clues about the next iPhone release?
This is the freshly minted logo design for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which takes place in San Francisco this year on June 10-14. And it's grabbing our attention for two reasons. First as a piece of design in itself, and second for the clues it may hold to the big 'reveal' of the conference (in the same way that the 2012 logo contained clues to the launch of the MacBook with Retina display during that event).
Colour mashup
On first sight, it looks like Apple's mashed up every app icon that's ever graced the App Store to make the 2013 logo. But pundits have suggested the multiplicity of colours - including green, orange, red, purple, and different shades of blue - is a foretasting of the much-anticipated next generation of iPhone, which is rumoured will come in a range of colours (there's a related rumour that the current iPhone will soon be released in new colour variations).
The use of semi-transparent round rectangles is also intriguing. Could their interconnectedness be related to some clever new feature as part of an upgrade to the iOS interface? We're not sure what that might be but as Apple is well known for thinking through every design decision carefully, we think it may be trying to tell us something here.
Aside from possible new functionality, the phrase 'flat design' has also been raised by commentators in connection with the WWDC 2013 design. And if that's the shape of things to come, we could be looking at a very different approach to the iOS interface in the months to come...
Typography
What of the logo design itself? Well, it's certainly attention grabbing, and we love the use of Roman numerals to spell out the year (2013) in a way that cleverly mirrors the name of the event. But we're not sure about the choice of typography.
For reasons only Apple can explain, it seems to have abandoned Myriad, which it's used for all previous WWDC branding, for a new, stylized font. Unfortunately, we think it doesn't mesh with rest of the design particularly well. But we'd love to hear what you think...
