16
Nov 12

The great skeuomorphism misunderstanding

No, I’m not quite ready to let the skeuomorphism thing die just yet. Humor me.

I was relieved that Tim Cook dismissed Scott Forstall and put Jony Ive in charge of Human Interface.

I was surprised when I read so many articles that seemed to misinterpret what had just happened.

I lost count of the articles proclaiming the death of skeuomorphism. Such as:

Skeuomorphism is (finally) dead: So what is Apple’s next move? and Jonathan Ive to rid skeumorphism in iOS and OS X.

News flash: skeuomorphism is not dead. What’s dead are cheesy, antiquated graphics — like the stitched leather look in Contacts and Calendar. These were aberrations in a world that had been built upon good taste.

Skeuomorphism is a good thing. It’s part of what made Apple what it is today — interface elements presented as real-world references to things we instantly understand. Things like documents, folders, trash cans, calculator, etc.

The leather stitching didn’t just stick out like a sore thumb. It was a skeuomorphic element tied to the wrong century. Rather than relate to something we’re familiar with, it related to something grandpa used to have on his desk.

Were you confused by Calendar before it became leather-bound? Of course not. The leather was an unnecessary visual element. It didn’t make us any more familiar with Calendar, it was just a “theme” being forced upon us. And it was a theme that turned off a great many.

If we’re to use a theme from the 50s to decorate Calendar, how about a typewriter theme to decorate Pages? Why not make the Reminders app look like the old reminder pad? Maybe the one that grandpa used to keep on that old desk calendar?

And what’s with Find My Friends? What’s its excuse for turning into leather?

This is exactly the point. Order was breaking down. Certain Apple interface elements were running off in one direction while others were going in another. It was skeuomorphism for its own sake, not for the sake of clarity.

Jony Ive isn’t going to banish skeuomorphism. He’s going to return it to a state of Apple elegance.

For me, Jony being put in charge of Human Interface is like the new sheriff coming to town to restore order.

The outlaws may not like it one bit. But as a law-abiding citizen, I really can’t wait.

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 at 6:48 am and is filed under apple news, iOS 6, observatory, OS X, technology. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

  • Dmitri

    Thanks Ken! I’ve been waiting for someone to talk sense on this issue. You nailed it.

  • sfmitch

    Great points.

  • http://twitter.com/cbee CB

    Well, now that you’ve gotten that off your chest…..

  • dorkus_maximus

    When stone columns replaced bundles of reeds to hold up roofs, masons carved the columns to look like reeds. When iron columns replaced stone columns, fabricators cast them to look like stone columns. Eventually we stop making things based on what came before and begin to see the potential in the new way.

    That the folder and desktop metaphor has lasted as long as it has is something of an eddie in the flow of design history.

  • Pingback: Things You’ll Find Interesting November 16, 2012 | Chuq Von Rospach, Photographer and Author

  • darlaj

    If I never have to hear the word skeuomorphism again, it will be well worth Forstall’s head.

  • TomCross

    Kudos to Captain Cook. Scott must have signed up for the Navy afterall…

  • Stocklone

    Using modern elements we are familiar with? Ok let’s have iBooks have a digital version of an iPad in it and you can select your book from another iPad that’s inside that which also has another iPad inside it which has a Kindle in it. As our world becomes increasingly digital, skeuomorphism becomes more and more absurd. We have 1 year olds that will spend their entire life consuming digital content. They won’t need skeuomorphism. The digital world will be their real world. Let’s just kill it now and move on to a design philosophy that has a real future.

  • Pingback: Former Apple Inc. (AAPL) Creative Guru is a 'Huge Fan' of Management Shakeup

  • http://www.websitetemplates.org/ Stacy Summers

    WOW! stunning and very useful post! Thanks a lot )

  • http://www.freetemplatesonline.com/ Stacy

    skeuomorphism is a new word in my vocabulary :)

  • http://www.webdesign.org/ Julia Agnes

    Thanks a lot for this article :)

  • http://godofbiscuits.wordpress.com/ Jeff Barbose

    “As our world becomes increasingly digital, skeuomorphism becomes more and more absurd.”

    Skeuomorphism serves a purpose. When it’s done well, it’s not consciously noticed so much as it provides continuity from something already well-known.

    Over time, as more and more of the already-well-known as been “digital” (as you put it), the skeuomorphic treatment may change, but unless a fundamental concept is brand new (say, Tweeting), those vestigial trappings will no longer speak back to physical versions.

    That’s nothing like being fated for The Absurd.

  • http://twitter.com/dev_coder Cody Horner

    Nice post, I agree fully and was getting sick of the skeuomorphism posts as well… until I read this one.

  • Pingback: Mishmash of interesting stuff over the past months | Unspoken Sriram

  • http://www.facebook.com/dennis.gec.9 Dennis Gec

    Thanks for finally clearing that up!

  • Pingback: Assessment Three – Digital Media — Jeremy Monfries

  • Pingback: Assessment Three – Digital Media — Jeremy Monfries