Apple launches refreshed Mac App Store designed for OS X Yosemite

Refreshed Mac App Store (right) versus last version.

As seen in the screenshot above, the Mac App Store moves further toward a "flat design" aesthetic with the removal of shading and skeuomorphic assets like lighting effects left over from past Apple software.

Compared side-by-side, the new look delineates content with thin gray lines instead of shaded boxes with thick "shiny" headers. In some cases, like informational app sidebars, text is simply floating in free space, denoted as a group through paragraph formatting and font sizes.

Images, too, are slightly tweaked and no longer pop off the screen, but instead appear integrated into the page alongside release notes and hyperlinks, which are a few shades darker than surrounding text.

The background no longer sports a stippled gray granite-like look, replaced with a solid light gray color. The net result is a less cluttered interface that puts focus on imagery and content rather than page design elements, much akin to the look of Apple's new iTunes 12.

For now, the update appears to be rolling out in stages as some users have reported seeing the fresh design only intermittently, while others are now seeing it full time.

Apple is slowly transferring its entire collection of first-party apps and Internet services, including the Apple.com website, over to the spartan design theme introduced with iOS 7. The most recent changes came when OS X Yosemite rolled out in October.