Almost six years after the introduction of tvOS, Apple’s design team has released their first-ever design tool kit for the platform. Apple’s tvOS design kit includes all of the components you’d expect from design templates to colors, materials, and more. These new tools should make it much easier for designers and developers to create mock ups and concepts for their apps.
The tvOS design kit is only available for Sketch users so if you are an Adobe XD user, you’re out of luck. The design kit is available as both a standalone Sketch file and an installable Sketch library. They both require Sketch 70. Each file comes in at under 15 MB, so they’re quite small compared to some of Apple’s other design kits.
In addition to the Sketch design kit, Apple has also released an icon production template for Photoshop. That comes in at just 1.3 MB. You can also, of course, download Apple’s Parallax Previewer app to test out your assets in a 3D environment that reacts with movements like those of the Siri remote’s trackpad.
This comes at an interesting time in the operating system’s cycle as there is some chatter about tvOS getting a redesign later this year. AppleTrack notes that The Verifier has reported that tvOS 15 will receive a “major design refresh.” Although The Verifier doesn’t have the best track record, only scoring a 54.3% accuracy rating from AppleTrack. We’d take that with a grain of salt. There is no doubt however that tvOS is in need to an overhaul.
First full tvOS design kit for the Apple Design Resources now available. Includes all system components, materials, text styles, templates… the whole kit and caboodle!https://t.co/diTyTIUwd1
(@sketch only for now.) pic.twitter.com/0OPFamgnbt
— Mike Stern (@themikestern) January 27, 2021
