Apple's new Font Book icon is upsetting designers

The advent of Apple's Liquid Glass design language has proven one of the more contentious UI developments in recent years – and perhaps the most significant since iOS 7 turned from skeuomorphism to flat design in 2013.

Liquid Glass has brought sweeping changes to icon designs across Apple's entire software line up, including macOS and iOS. And while it's the bigger questions around accessibility and aesthetics that have angered most dissenting voices, one icon in particular is troubling graphic designers.

Anyone else disappointed with Apple’s Fontbook icon redesign? from r/graphic_design

Font Book, macOS's built-in font manager, has seen its icon hugely simplified. Gone are the various typefaces depicting the letter, 'A', replaced with a single clean sans-serif character.

Many have complained that it's no longer clear what the app does. "I get the modern take, but this is disappointing, I'd rather have it say 'Aa' than just 'a'," one Redditor comments. Another adds, "hmmm yeah this is upsetting."

But not everyone's hating on the clean design. "Even though the old app communicated the purpose and identity of the app better, I find the new one much prettier. All things considered I’d say they’re both good in different ways," another user comments.

For our money, the cleaner design isn't necessarily a downgrade, and it's certainly in keeping with the Liquid Glass aesthetic. But Apple design is arguably at it's best when it's fun – and this represents another small but disappointing move away from the colourful Apple of the noughties.