Design beneath the surface.
Entry #001
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Some thoughts on the new iPhone 15 design, and why I think it's really interesting.
iPhone 14 in yellow
To understand what makes the new iPhone 15 design so interesting, we should look back at the way Apple did things for the last generation. For the iPhone 14 family, Apple opted to go for a clear glass back on top of a colored layer underneath the glass. This gave the phone a punchy look as the underlying yellow layer was displayed fully saturated with no loss of color. A fun look in its own way.
Key takeaway being that the glass was a clear white and the color was imparted by the film underneath.
With the new generation of iPhones, my guess is that apple first decided to go for a frosted finish on the back. This meant that the previous approach of using clear glass with the new frosted surface finish would reduce the saturation of the color layer under. Incoming light would get scattered by the dispersion of light caused by the new texture of the glass, causing a reduction in perceived saturation.
How do you solve this issue of reduced saturation? Infuse color into the glass and remove the colored film underneath.
Infusing the actual glass with color adds another design benefit, highlighting the camera bump. Thicker glass means more time for the glass to disperse light using the tiny particles inside it. This leads to a more saturated color, drawing our eyes towards the cameras.
Increasingly in the last few years, I've seen more designers using transparent and translucent materials to create objects which "trap" light inside them using resin, colored glass etc. and it seems that the design team at apple is motivated by the same concept. In my opinion it creates a design feature that looks more dynamic and appears far more interesting compared to the old approach.
I can imagine depending on where you place your phone, if it's face down, the color will appear different. Different at sunset, at lunch, at dinner and in the bedroom, making the phone feel a little more dynamic. Almost as if it adapts to your surroundings and changing conditions. Excited to see the new devices out in the wild.
iPhone 15 color lineup