Apple posts design guides and resources to help developers make better apps

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Apple has added a new Design Guides and Resources section to their developer center. It includes videos and documentation on user interface design for apps and games, overviews of what's new in iOS 7, best practices, a look at how iPhoto was designed, Apple's famed Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), design dos and don'ts, the UIKit catalog, and the iOS 7 transition guide. Apple (opens in new tab) says:

Exceptional user experience is a hallmark of Apple, and a distinguishing feature of apps built for iOS and OS X. Review the resources below to learn how to build the polished, engaging, and intuitive apps that Apple customers have come to expect.

It's nothing you wouldn't get from WWDC or the Tech Talks, but it's all in one place and that's a huge boon for new designers looking to get started and veterans who want to locate something specific and quickly. And that Apple is giving designers some love like this on its own is tremendous.

If you're a designer and you check out the new page let me know if it's valuable to you!

More: Apple Design Guide and Resources (opens in new tab)

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.
6 Comments
  • Anything about accessibility? Apple are good at that, so they should expect that from their developers, as well, Sent from the iMore App
  • It's kind of sad that there is only one link/resource for OSX and it links you to the older site.
  • I have a feeling that Autolayout will be pretty important in oh, about 7 months. It helps apps adjust their UI elements automatically when running on screens of different pixel sizes. (And no, I don't expect 4K iPads in 7 months.)
  • Apple is really pushing Auto Layout, so I assume we'll see bigger iPhones with a little higher resolution (such that PPI is held at 326 or a higher level). 4K iPads won't be a problem from the developer POV if they just double the resolution.
  • Ok, something is going on. I can't get this video to play either from the App. Same issue with Georgia's video. I did a total reboot of my device. Sent from the iMore App
  • Some of the WORST user-interface errors/offenses occur in iOS7. For example, a word next to a button should usually define the functionality of that button at that moment. But not in iOS7: words next to buttons can actually be independently clickable from the buttons that themselves have no labels. That is total UI BS. Come on Apple, wake up: building in intuitiveness is a virtue, not a sign of weakness. There are SO many areas in which iOS7 is stupidly non-intuitive that one begins to wonder about the legitimacy of the supposed design credentials of the perpetrators at Apple.