Challenge: Throwback with SwiftUI
June 8, 2021
Whether you’ve been coding for 40 years, you’re new to the SwiftUI scene, or you’re a designer — everyone loves a good throwback. Give in to the nostalgia and imagine what your app might look like if designed for the Mac or iPhone interfaces of yesteryear. Are you a fan of the refreshing feel of 2000s-era Aqua? Perhaps you prefer the iconic grayscale of System 6. Or maybe you’ve been hoping for a return to the early days of iPhoneOS skeumorphism. Now’s your chance: Travel back in time with us and design a SwiftUI view that embraces that retro styling.
Begin the challenge
Before you travel through time, it’s important to choose your digital companion: are you designing a view for an existing app, or bringing an entirely new view idea along for the ride? Once you’ve decided, it’s time to fire up Xcode. Use your favorite random number generator to choose a year between 1984 and 2013 — or if you like, open up a Swift Playground to take you back in time:
let myCoolRetroYear = Int.random(in: 1984..<2013)
print("Reimagine your app's interface like it's from the year \(myCoolRetroYear)!")Once you’ve settled on a year, begin imagining your interface with the Apple Design Languages prominent during that time! For designers and those newer to the world of code, explore how much UI you can create with the help of Xcode Previews. And when it’s time to start adding code, see how simple and fun SwiftUI makes it. For seasoned code warriors, further your SwiftUI knowledge and explore the new features of SwiftUI that will take your recreated artifact to the next level.
Want to share your work-in-progress or collaborate with other developers? You can show off your finished design in the Developer Forums.
Visit the Apple Developer Forums
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