Rest in peace, Keith. I'll always hold a special place in my heart for the NeXTStep interface and general look.<p>----<p>Anyone notice some visual parallels between the icon aesthetic since El Capitan and Keith Ohlfs's icons?<p>----<p>This guy recreated the NeXT icons (with some creative liberties):<p><a href="http://galgot.free.fr/wordpress/?p=1380" rel="nofollow">http://galgot.free.fr/wordpress/?p=1380</a><p><a href="http://galgot.free.fr/wordpress/?p=1410" rel="nofollow">http://galgot.free.fr/wordpress/?p=1410</a>
Every new release of (mac)OS( X), I rush to see whether the Grab.app creepy eye camera[0] has been replaced, and every time I breathe a sigh of relief. Sadly though, a few versions ago it stopped following the mouse cursor.<p>0. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/xT3Od" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/xT3Od</a>
I remember speaking with him once, not knowing he was at a competing company, and first, thanking him for the excellent UI I had the pleasure to use (I had a NeXT machine on my desk for about 8 months at a job I was at); then asking him if he was available for work (he wasn't).<p>Gracious guy, and I believe today that the NextStep v3.3 GUI was about the perfect GUI even today; I miss it.
His NeXTStep user interface also strongly influenced Windows 95.<p>For a long time Keith had a web site called pixelsight.com. It used a NeXT computer and the display postscript rendering to generate images from options you could select on the web page, you could use it to generate buttons and other types of icons. It was probably one of the first uses of a web server as a front end for a program.
I was extremely lucky to be able to work side by side with Keith at Montage Studio. I am grateful for all Keith has taught me and all he has shown the world. I will always remember the late nights we spent together. My condolences to the Ohlfs family. Rest in peace Keith.
The NeXT interface was wonderfully designed. Back in the day, its competition was Openlook and Motif, plus the classic Mac desktop and whatever Windows and OS/2 had at the time -- it was really a wonderful, integrated, beautifully executed desktop that made sense soon as I first sat down to use it.
Haa 52, damn young...<p>NS icons were unique, just enough shine and hue to compliment the "dull" (some would perfectly non distracting) widget theme.<p>Thank you for the dreamy eyes you got me.
The NeXT had such a clean aesthetic, even on the original B&W displays that were limited to just four shades of grey. I still use the house icon from the later color systems on my Linux desktop.
Would be interesting to read a book related to this topic. Not about how to design user interfaces, but something that would tell more about designers like Keith and their work. Examples and then commentary by the designers. Any pointers?