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I am honestly confused what you are talking about.

Looking at Apple Music right now I see no bold fonts except for say Library and Artists which only appear on those main screens. The negative space you talk about is largely a result of them making the thumbnails large (on list view) and because otherwise the screen would be cluttered (on now playing view).

Personally I think it's clean and pretty well designed and a lot better than the alternatives.




Please find the marked wasted space at the screenshot below (Yellow markup): https://i.imgur.com/EKJ4VHJ.jpg

1. Is it really necessary to say “Apple Music” on top!? We know it’s Apple Music. Also "Get all the music you want" tag line is unnecessary.

2. Huge amounts of wasted space above “Browse”.

3. Space on the right of “Browse”

4. If the category/genes string length is small, why take up the entire bottom half of the screen?

5. Row spacing is excessively large

I understand that white space has a tremendous value in design especially when you have screen real estate and valid reasons. On a phone, I want maximal density of information so I don’t have to go into a hierarchy try while I need to quickly do something. Flatter UI hierarchy is preferred over deeper obfuscation of branches.

There is so much I could say. In fact, I might write a blog post explaining why Apple Music’s UI is one of the worst of any App I have ever used. I will explain and provide mock ups of the design.


1. It says Apple Music since you haven't paid for a subscription.

2. Mostly because of 1. But the rest is because when you scroll that white space changes to show the title.

3. This is to be consistent with the other sections.

4. This is a standard list view used across all of iOS. What exactly are you expecting Apple to do here ?

5. This might be to do with your phone or font size. The white spacing isn't that large on iPhone X.

By all means write a blog but my suggestion would be to buy the app first just so you have the proper experience. And then appreciate that Apple designs their phones for a very broad audience i.e. think grandparents. Maximal density of information is not something most people want.


When I saw your complaint #4, I imagined you'd love Japanese web/software design https://info.moravia.com/blog/why-japanese-web-design-is-sti...


Thank you so much. This is one of the most insightful articles I’ve ever read on Japanese design! I frequently visit Japan and absolutely admire their sense of aesthetics.

In return :-), I would like to offer the most crazy, cutting edge, next gen movement in design today: Resurgence of Brutalism http://www.brutalistwebsites.com


   > 2. Huge amounts of wasted space above “Browse”.
Let me quote Vignelli canon:

  > Ultimately the most important device is the
  > management of the white space in the layouts.
  > It is the white space that makes the layout sing.
  > Bad layouts have no space left for breathing - every
  > little space covered by a cacophony of type-sizes,
  > images, and screaming titles.
This may or may not apply to the Apple Music UI, but stuffing up any space with stuff will not make a design better for sure.


May be I didn’t convey the message right. I’ve already mentioned the value of negative space. I understand what negative space is and why it can be judiciously used to benefit layout composition.

Apple Music uses way too much to the point where it is frustrating to use it.

I am not saying we should make Apps that look like excel spreadsheets. I kind of find it condescending when people provide advise without understanding the argument.


Please do, that would be an enlightening read!


I would enjoy reading such a blog post.


White space isn’t ‘wasted.’




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