This fall, a major change is coming to iOS, Apple's operating system for iPhones and iPads.
The new look, called iOS 7, is a little controversial.
When Apple previewed iOS 7 in June, the people who make apps for iPhones and iPads complained about three things:
They didn't like the new operating system's main font because it was too thin.
They didn't like the operating system's color scheme, because it was too bright and cartoonish.
And they didn't like Apple's new guidelines for how developers must make their app icons look.
Earlier this week, Apple took care of the first complaint, by thickening the font from Helvetica Neue Light to Helvetica Neue.
As for the other two design cues everyone is complaining about?
It appears that both elements may actually stem from long-time Apple design.
An Apple fan on Reddit made the clever observation that iOS 7's "too bright" color scheme should actually be very familiar.
Check out this illustration:
Skeptics who have seen the illustration above like to point out that the iOS 7 icons and the old Apple logo are simply the colors of the rainbow, and that the coincidence ends there. That's fine. But Apple and Ive clearly made a choice to go back to the colors of the rainbow.
Meanwhile, the other thing designers and app makers don't like about iOS 7 are the guidelines Apple published for how to make icons.
The guidelines are a grid, and they look like this:
But like iOS 7's color scheme, the grid also appears to be rooted in previous, albeit more recent, Apple designs.
Another Reddit user, going by the user name Gotnate, made this clever illustration:
