Skeuomorphism waves goodbye forever?
The definition of skeuomorphism is…
… the design concept of making items represented resemble their real-world counterparts. Skeuomorphism is commonly used in many design fields, including user interface (UI) and Web design, architecture, ceramics and interior design.
Essentially skeuomorphism is the practice of taking the look of an object that was originally made in another context and transferring that to the new object. What was then probably functional now becomes ornamental. A good example is the digital camera.
Why does a digital camera look like that?
Originally the dimensions of the camera, the wide body and centred lens, were defined by the size and shape of the silver film and the placement of the image to be exposed on that film.
Now that we don’t have film in the majority of our cameras anymore, there is no need for that familiar camera shape. However, it still persists today because we are used to it, and expect a ‘camera’ to look a certain way.
Skeuomorphic UI
Touch screens prompted a similar thing to happen with screen UI design. People were not used to touch screens (remember Newton or Palm Pilot?) so skeuomorphic principles provided the answers for screen UI design to achieve user acceptance.
The notion of tapping on a keyboard that didn’t ‘feel’ like a keyboard may have alienated a large swathe of people. A notepad that didn’t have the texture of paper nor a spiral binding and a calculator that didn’t have rounded, plastics buttons could have done the same.
So the inevitable happened. Designers worked very hard to make sure that people would be comfortable to make a leap and interact with their touch screen apps by convincing them that, yeah, this address book may be kind of virtual and inside this flat screen in the palm of your hand but it really works just the same as that old jotter stuffed in your desk drawer.
Back to the future
Don’t underestimate how much skeuomorphic design helped the transition to touch screens, which are now universally adopted and loved by all. It’s hard to say now because the genie is out of the bottle, but could you imagine for a moment if the first iPhone had launched with the iOS 7 operating system? With our modern, touchscreen-acclimatised eyes, it looks beautifully pragmatic, efficient and effortless, but would our 2007 selves have thought the same?
I wager no. ‘But that button doesn’t look like a button!’ the world would have cried. In fact, the world could have looked a very different place to the one it is today. Skeuomorphic design was perfect for touch screens at the time, as it helped people make the transition to the unphysical properties of the world within a device.
As we have all lived with touch screens for nearly a decade now and our experiences and expectations have matured, we don’t need a button to look like a button that exists in our real, physical world to know that if we tap it, something will happen. We don’t need an app for notes to look like a yellowed, lined piece of paper. A collection of books doesn’t need to be rendered as a row of tombs on some wooden shelves. The collection can now be rendered as a simple list of cover illustrations.
So now we have got to this point, is the current trend towards flat design here for good? Or is skeuomorphism going to rise again? Or is something else entirely going to emerge?
Material and beyond
Like all trends and movements, skeuomorphism has simply evolved. Flat design is king at the moment but look at Google’s material design. Yes, it’s beautiful and yes, it looks kind of flat, but arguably it takes some distinct queues from skeuomorphism. It uses drop shadows effectively and different textures to define areas and elements of the screen.
We have to be careful before we chuck skeuomorphism in the bin
These don’t need to exist in a virtual screen world but it helps us, as humans, to find our way around and be aware of elemental hierarchy because we see direct correlation with how things in the real world behave.
As designers, we have to be careful before we chuck skeuomorphism in the bin because it’s not cool or trendy anymore. There is so much prior knowledge that people bring with them when interacting with their devices that we have to be aware we don’t simply throw away the context, identity, purpose and value that skeuomorphism can bring to the table.
I think we are on the edge of an interesting equilibrium between skeuomorphic and flat design, where it will be tricky to label screen design with a nice convenient name or term. Ultimately, it will simply be whatever is the easiest, most intuitive way for a human to interact with their beloved chunk of technology that goes everywhere with them.
