What is skeuomorphism?

Apple announced it would scrap the "traditional" look of its mobile apps which mimicked real world objects. This is "skeuomorphic" design.

Steve Jobs believed computers should be so simple to use that a complete novice could master them based on instinct alone.

He championed a style of design in which digital elements resembled real world objects that anyone could recognise.

Behind the glass screen lay a "desktop" on which users could arrange "documents", or drop them into the "trash" - an icon in the shape of a bin



BBC News

 

To be honest, i learned about this word after reading so many Apple news and iOS. (Gadget sites)

 

I wonder why Apple want to drop this concept?

 

By reading the article, it seems that even Windows 8 doesn't have much of it either.

Why drop it? Lack of innovation. Therefore, they're innovating. Get it?

 

Probably because many doesn't really like it, and they want something new, and I agree about that. And Scott Forstall, former Apple Senior Vice President of iOS software, was really into skeuomorphism designs. But he got fired last year after the not so successful "Maps" release. And now it's Sir Jony Ive VP of Industial Design that has taken over, a very good choice if you ask me. And it's Jony and his team that has designed the new iOS 7. Not all of the skeuomorphism is gone in the iOS 7 Beta, some apps still have a touch of it, but more will probably be gone in the next Beta.

FYI....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Forstall

 

Seriously, I see enough of comments like this on other sites do we really need to go down to that level on Wilders ?

 

I suppose that's one way to look at it. LOL

 

Ah ... so it's all down to politics.

 

Politics? we're not talking about Obama, Cameron.... afaik, I really dont understand what you mean with this post, sorry. But I would like to find out

 

I mean politics with a small 'p' as we say in my country. The internal politics of the Apple corporation in other words.

 

Internal politics of Apple......then I understand better.
Mr Cook did what he had to do

So if you would have used a capital "P" it would have meant something else, no?
Politics is politics as far as I know...lol

 

Going down to what level? I'm actually at a quite neutral level. I won't apologize for not understanding the reason to take away something that worked/works.

And, taking it outside of the desktop/laptop/similar world, even some elder people I know, and who never previously got their hands on something like a mobile phone, know that the green phone is to make the call and the red phone is to end it. Can you imagine what it would be like if the make the call and the end the call buttons were different from what they are? I can't even imagine that.

The same way, I know elder people who never previously worked with computers, that even without knowing the full functionality of the program, imediately recognize what certain icons are for, because they resemble those to real life situations, such as e-mail icon, etc.

I just hope this new trend won't become a trend, at all. So, I won't apologize for seeing this as a way of innovating, instead of actually innovating.

One of this days, all of a sudden, a text file icon will be some random stupid icon, which won't resemble to anything.

 

Well, in British English, we just tend to use the saying politics with a small 'p' as a colloquial term. When we use this phrase, regardless of actually using grammatical capitalisations (or not), we mean localised or internal politics. Not unlike the example of the internal politics of changing icons in Apple products.

 

Yeah, I'm with you on this. Skeuomorphism is actually quite a logical idea. I recently downloaded SMPlayer to test as a media player. One of the reasons that I like it so much is that the GUI icons are quite easily & logically recognised by their appearance: Skeuomorphic in fact.

 

If this was what you meant then I understand even less. I thought your "hint" was about Apple and innovation, or the lack of innovation, but I guess not. So what you are talking about as far as I know is "re design" wich IMO is different from innovating.

My god I think I leave this confusing topic before I get the skeuomorphia disease

 

Even I can agree on that lol, it's very simple to understand when you see it. But the color scheme that they used in some apps wasn't very attractive.

 

Not easy for a non native english person to understand I think, I wonder if an native American would have understood it correctly? Anyway, we learn something new everyday on Wilders

 

I tend to believe that aesthetics & colour schemes can be very important. Some say that it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it works. I disagree, if you are staring at something ugly or at least unappealing for hours it can't be any good for you psychologically.

 

I can't speak for Americans, I think that they may have possibly understood though, even if they were not familiar with the saying. As to Native Americans, I don't know. As I don't speak Zuni or Algonquin. LOL

 

Yes sure again I agree, it is important in some cases, but not in this case, even Apple wasn't very happy with it. But it kinda had to look that way since they used skeumoppie....in the other apps as well.

Well, we tend to remember the bad, negative, ugly stuff rather than the good and beautiful.

 

I see. Haha....you know what I mean Sir Dave. If I would stop a man in NYC and ask him if he was a native american he would surely answer yes if he was born in The United States Of America, unless he was from another country. LOL

 

This is about skeuomorphism right? And, the fact that they seem to be dropping it. According to the article even Windows 8 seems to have less of it as well (something I mentioned in my first post).

That said, two things:

1. It's bad to design something that people won't relate to, at all.
2. Regarding innovation. When you reach a point when you're no longer innovating, then you need to start innovating. Therefore, you start screwing up what has been working quite well for years.

 

http://ux.stackexchange.com/questio...ke-more-as-of-now-flat-design-or-skeuomorphic

 

Yes maybe, I agree somewhat, but time will tell what the users think.

Innovating or not, many iOS users wanted a change after using the same UI for several years, and Scott that was one of the persons who liked skeu... got fired so he had no involvement in this whether they should keep it or not. And I think they did the right choice, I really like the looks of iOS 7. But we'll see what the majority thinks about it when it get's released later this year, maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong

The feeling I have is that if the "looks" would have been the same as in iOS 6 many would actually consider a change to another OS, so this change was needed, and I think it will do good for Apple.

Edit: Speaking of "changing". Changes will come sooner or later some more successful than other. But change is not always for the better....as they say. We have a few recent examples that's not worth mentioning.

 

Speak for yourself.