453: ‘What’s in Louie’s Wallet’, With Louie Mantia
Louie Mantia returns to the show to talk about the state of UI and icon design on Apple's platforms, and some speculation on Apple's trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI.
Sponsored by:
Notion: The collaborative AI workspace where teams and
agents work side by side, with a Developer Platform teams can build on.
Even Realities: Even G2, the everyday display smart glasses. Use promo code talkshow to save 10% off the R1 Ring and/or Even Clip.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Louie on the squircle: “The Shape of Apps”.
Me, linking to Louie on the squircle.
Louie on Alan Dye: “A Responsibility to the Industry”.
Me: “Bad Dye Job”.
Me, after WWDC 2025, comparing Dye’s introduction of Liquid Glass to Steve Jobs’s introduction of Aqua back in January 2000.
UI designer Chan Karunamuni’s tweet on Steve Lemay: “Steve’s been my manager for my entire 15 year career so far at Apple and I could not be more excited for this new era.”.
Karunamuni’s Twitter/X account, with links regarding Liquid Glass, the Dynamic Island, and the cool Flashlight beam UI.
Louie on The Talk Show last year.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
428: ‘Michigan-Starred Fine Dining’, With Louie Mantia
Special guest Louie Mantia joins the show to talk about Liquid Glass, the various OS 26 updates, and the worrisome state of Apple’s UI design overall. Also: sandwiches.
Sponsored by:
Quip: A supercharged clipboard manager and text expander for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Notion: The best AI tool for work, with your notes, docs, and projects in one space.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.
Transcripts: Unofficial but surprisingly good.
Links:
Louie’s personal website, chock full of downloadable wallpapers, icons, and more.
Louie, on Alan Dye: “A Responsibility to the Industry”.
Louie on Mastodon.
Parakeet, Louie’s design partnership with Luka Grafera.
Steve Jobs introducing the new icon for iTunes that Louie made (the best iTunes icon ever).
Daring Fireball: “Sorry, MacOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty” (with links, at the bottom, to Louie’s mockup of how Liquid Glass versions of the Finder icon should look).
My polls on light/dark mode preferences on your phone: Mastodon and Threads.
NeXTStep’s GUI and icons, including the realistic “folders” and super-detailed “home” with shrubbery and a tree in front of the house (and another collection just of NeXTStep’s icons).
Redweld — Makers of the iconic (no pun intended) expandable files that NeXT’s folder icons were based on.
The wonderfully skeuomorphic original interfaces for Apple’s iPhone Voice Memos and Podcasts apps.
Steve Jobs introducing Aqua at Macworld San Francisco in January 2000.
A July 1986 draft of the original Human Interface Guidelines (PDF) from Apple, including a brief section on “Perceived Stability” (followed by a section on “See-and-Point versus Remember-and-Type”).
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.