The Desaturation of OS X

Above: Unification of Aqua and Brushed Metal

In a nutshell, I still miss "Aqua", which probably requires no introduction by now, being the common visual theme that stood as the foundation of the Mac OS X operating system until the past couple years. To many people unfamiliar with the platform, this is generally the majority of what they know when they think of this and any OS, as the visual parts of the UI are easiest to see above all the beauty that is beyond skin deep.

Now, Apple is known for a thorough design, from beginning to finish, from hardware to software design. So when the look changed from the white plastic surfaces to aluminum surfaces on their product lines, the primary visuals of the OS turned metallic gray accordingly.

So here's the issue. So did everything else.

They overdid it. They turned the UI chrome gray (that's fine). But then they proceeded to do the same to the form elements, navigation buttons, and just about every UI element some shade of metallic gray. Is color as a visual cue no longer a part of their design philosophy?

But this change occurred in 2007, back when the current version OS X 10.5 debuted. So why resurrect this topic? The mixed blessing of third party applications on this platform is that many developers maintain consistency with the interface guidelines of the OS. As a result, when the OS turned into a desaturated stormy gray a couple years ago, it didn't stop there. It crept into every new or updated version of applications written for OS X. What you get is a continuing desaturation of the visuals of every interface we use. If anyone's listening, please, color is not dead.