MacOS Big Sur: Thoughts from a UX Designer
So I’ve been using Big Sur for the past week or so (Insert MKBHD joke here), and for the most part, it’s been holding up really well. But design-wise, it still has room for improvements and stuff that I straight up don’t dig. So if you feel like listening to my rants today, keep reading 😉.
A little disclaimer
Okay, I don't like disclaimers as much as the next person, but I gotta mention the obvious. These are some thoughts I have about Apple’s new update to macOS from a UX design point of view. So I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of performance, benchmark scores, and stuff like that.
Now that I think about it, you must have that idea after reading the title, so was this disclaimer not even necessary? Okay, sorry about wasting 15 seconds of your life, let’s get right into it.
Icons are amazeballs as expected 😍
Apple hyped the new design system for the icons a lot. I think it’s fair to say that it was probably the design community that hyped it themselves. Either way, we were all excited to see them in action. And boy didn’t they deliver.
It’s still down to personal preference I think. I saw that users are divided on this, but for me, they actually look great.
The idea is pretty clear. Apple wants to make the design consistent throughout their operating systems. This is evident in the iOS-ification of most of the elements (I’ll get to this later).
The new icons are very similar to the curved boxes found on iOS. This is a change that I like a lot. It’s just more consistent and looks better as well.
The iOS-ification is gonna take some getting used to 🥴
From a design perspective, macOS didn’t need a lot of fixing. It was a pretty decent OS. But there was definitely room for improvements, and Apple has addressed them. But in some places, it’s hard not to notice that they have sacrificed familiarity and usability in the name of creating a consistent system with iOS.
The new control system for example kinda broke my brain when I used it for the first time 🥴.
I loved the previous navigation bar for its simplicity. For example, the wifi menu on previous OS’s did the job just right. There was a big ol’ tick beside the name without too many distractions. It was subtle, but enough.
The new menu, which has a more iOS feel to it with the blue indicator took some getting used to. And tbh, I’d really like a big tick instead of the blue wifi logo for the macOS.
Back to the control center 🤔
As you can see below, after clicking the display tab to get to “more options” (which I know there is because of the nice little arrow indicator on the right) there is no “back” arrow visible in the UI. Apparently, you have to click back on the “Display” label to go back to the main screen (which you have to guess on your own).
This is something I saw someone complain about on Twitter as well. This looks like an easily avoidable UX issue that Apple of all people decided to make.
It’s one of those times where making design decisions for the sake of consistency can affect the experience.
Love the new sidebar 👌🏼
One thing they absolutely nailed was the sidebar. Visually, it’s neat and it’s now just a sidebar as it should be. The options to do other things like toggle night shift is moved to the control center.
Oh, and yes, it's got the sweet new widgets you get on your iPhone too.
Bigger click areas — finally! 🙌🏼
I always thought the size of CTA’s on macOS was a bit too small. The buttons had a fairly small click area and it could get pretty weird if you’re using a bigger screen.
They have finally got it right with Big Sur. Better late than never ;)
The text alignment also looks better. The new modals are narrower and taller, which I prefer than the previous versions.
“Better” safari? Still a no for me 🙅🏽
I know there were a lot of good things said about the Safari redesign, but it still doesn’t cut for me.
I rarely use Safari on the Mac. So much so that I don’t even wanna bother taking a screenshot of it.
The only thing stopping me from using Safari is the very basics of it. The UX of opening and closing tabs still doesn’t do it for me.
Edit: The “+” button next to the tab name is still better than the button on Safari which is on the far right. Like some of you have pointed out, the keyboard shortcuts are an alternative, maybe I should give that a try 😅
Also, bookmarks are far better on Chrome as well. And basically every other minor interaction.
I still use Safari sometimes when I have to log in with separate accounts to certain websites, but I’m no way closer to considering it as my first choice browser.
AirPods auto-switching finally works, but not quite? 🤷🏽♂️
This might be an isolated incident but my Airpods never “auto-switched” between my Mac and iPhone before the Big Sur update.
It now does work, but there is a little twist to it.
Airpods auto-switching seems to work seamlessly on iOS devices. That is, it will work pretty smoothly between your iPhone and iPad.
But it’s not the case when one of the devices is a Mac. Even though the Airpods can switch to your iPhone automatically, it can’t do the same the other way around. At least that’s how the experience has been for me.
But since it never really worked for me before, it’s not much of a deal.
Final verdict ✍🏼
The new update was kind of a (avoid the pun) “Big” step for the Mac. It was a bit ambitious. It’s kind of like Mac’s iOS6 -iOS7 moment.
There’s a lot of things they got right, and a few they didn’t. With time, I’m sure Apple will find the right balance.
Let me know what you guys think of Big Sur as well ✌🏻.
