Jony Ive Put Apple's Marketing Team in Charge of iOS 7 Icon Design - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Jony Ive Put Apple's Marketing Team in Charge of iOS 7 Icon Design

Ios7 1The Next Web has given us a peek behind the scenes at the development of the new and controversial user interface in iOS 7.

One of the more revealing points in the piece is that Jony Ive, recently put in charge of software as well as hardware design, tapped Apple's marketing and communications team -- MarCom -- to design the look and feel of the icons. Then, with those as a guide, the iOS design teams went to work.

First of all, many of the new icons were primarily designed by members of Apple’s marketing and communications department, not the app design teams. From what we’ve heard, SVP of Design Jony Ive (also now Apple’s head of Human Interaction) brought the print and web marketing design team in to set the look and color palette of the stock app icons. They then handed those off to the app design teams who did their own work on the ‘interiors’, with those palettes as a guide.


The site goes on to note that the design is "firmly a 'work in progress'", and that the look and feel of the icons and other new UI bits are likely to change significantly as the iOS 7 beta proceeds.

Related Forum: iOS 7

Popular Stories

Waze logo

5 New Waze Features Rolling Out Now: Here Are All the Details

Monday July 13, 2026 3:42 am PDT by
Google today announced that Waze is getting a handful of new features, including some Gemini-powered personalization enhancements for Conversational Reporting. Conversational Reporting already uses Gemini when users report traffic incidents like slowdowns, but now you can use it to suggest map updates like road closures or outdated addresses. Saying something like "The road is closed here"...
apple silicon 1 feature

Apple Silicon is Taking an Unexpected Turn

Friday July 10, 2026 7:24 am PDT by
Ever since the Mac switched from Intel processors to Apple silicon starting in 2020, each generation of M-series chips has included higher-end Pro and Max variants. If a recent report proves to be accurate, though, that streak will be coming to an end. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will be releasing a regular M6 chip, but it has no plans to offer higher-end M6 Pro and M6 Max...
Mac Pro Feature Teal

Apple's M7 Ultra Chip Designed to Match a 2019 Mac Pro Feat

Sunday July 12, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple's M7 Ultra chip coming in 2028 is designed to support up to 1.5TB of unified memory, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. However, whether such a configuration is offered may depend on the state of the ongoing memory chip shortage. In 2019, Apple released an Intel-based Mac Pro with up to 1.5TB RAM....

Top Rated Comments

171 months ago

The site goes on to note (http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/06/12/why-does-the-design-of-ios-7-look-so-different/) that the design is a "firmly a 'work in progress'", and that the look and feel of the icons and other new UI bits are likely to change significantly as the iOS 7 beta proceeds.

It sure as heck needs to.
Score: 71 Votes (Like | Disagree)
171 months ago
As impressed as I am with the amount of work they've done so far, the icons let the rest of OS down, I feel.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
171 months ago
Scary

Putting Marketing people in charge of ANYTHING critical is a bad idea. They aren't engineers, they aren't interface people, heck, they aren't even graphics and design people. Marketing is full of glorified sales people. As others have said this explains a lot.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
171 months ago
They need to take them off, because everything about ios7 is great, but the icons make my eyes bleed.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
171 months ago
Ok everyone, don't panic(get your towel if you need it) and step back from the edge. Everything is going to be ok.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
171 months ago

The site goes on to note (http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/06/12/why-does-the-design-of-ios-7-look-so-different/) that the design is a "firmly a 'work in progress'", and that the look and feel of the icons and other new UI bits are likely to change significantly as the iOS 7 beta proceeds.

That's good. I think they've made a good start but the icons in particular do need some refinement.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)