Consistency, But in Excellence Not Appearance

Consistency serves a purpose in visual design, but it seems to have become the purpose of a lot of visual design. Look no further than these evolutions of macOS icons (image courtesy of BasicAppleGuy): The Creator Studio icons are undeniably consistent visually: rounded rectangles, controlled gradients, simplified forms, restrained depth, etc. In contrast (and by modern standards) the originals seem heretically inconsistent. They lack coherence in visual details like shape, material, and lighting. But what they lack in visual consistency between one another, they make up for in excellence individually. In fact, their aversion to familial visual consistency almost seems like an intentional choice — a deliberate augmentation of individual purpose. What purpose? To be singularly representative and deeply iconic. Icons that are iconic. To be iconic, by definition, is to be famously distinctive. None of the Creator Studio icons, especially when held up as a suite, are iconic. None are…