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Skeuomorphism

skeu.it

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Re: Skeuomorphism

#31

Post by MartinCron »

RandallBrown wrote: post #16
Smudge wrote: post #5

My designer friend and I are laughing so hard at this that we're crying. In all seriousness, this is the perfect tool for showing people how skeumorphism can be taken too far. I actually like many of these designs, but the point is that the metaphors don't actually help, and sometimes only add to the confusion. (Denim weather app? Pea coat button loops for on/off switches?)

In all fairness, lots of these are just people on Dribbble flexing their photoshop muscles. The peacoat on off switch wouldn't be great in your app (unless you're selling peacoats or something) but it still looks kinda cool.

The peacoat on/off switch is causing a lot of cognitive dissonance in me right now. It's so pointless, but so adorable. I want to make a peacoat-related app just to have an excuse to use it.

Re: Skeuomorphism

#33

Post by wvenable »

Smudge wrote: post #13
shinratdr wrote: post #7

So skeuomorphism is now anything besides Windows Phone style "pure digital"? Shiny = glass, black texture = leather, blue texture = denim, etc? That's going to be really, really boring. I don't know why texture is such a bad thing. Of course you can overdo it like anything, but personally I prefer Reeder with a light paper-pulp backing texture instead of a plain light peach background. For example, what is so bad abo…

I agree. This site seems to call-out anything with a certain kind of texture as "skeumorphic," and many of the examples are quite attractive on their own. But I think you're pigeonholing it into a certain school of design. I don't see it calling out just any texture -- only a certain range commonly found in software these days (especially on iOS). I'm talking about denim, paper, stone, leather, and other rough, durab…

> I'm talking about denim, paper, stone, leather...

Add glass, wood, and brick and that's probably every common surface texture that humans interact with daily. Is it really any surprise that these are used over and over? You claim it's derivative but maybe it's just common.

Re: Skeuomorphism

#34

Post by wvenable »

FuzzyDunlop wrote: post #30
clarky07 wrote: post #22

I don't understand all the hate for skeuomorphism lately. Who cares if the todo app uses a design that makes it feel like a leather bound paper notebook. The point of design is to make something functional and beautiful. As long as it doesn't actively make the functionality worse, and some people like they way it looks, what is the problem ?

I see the current skeuomorphism trend, in a way, as cargo-culting. People saw some questionable, but not entirely dreadful uses of it (basically Apple's effort) and thought, "yeah that looks good! I'm going to give my app an awesome real life texture!" Take the denim weather app design for example. To what extent does a denim effect, that one would associate primarily with jeans, have anything to do with the weather?…

A todo app uses a design that makes it feel like a leather bound paper notebook is skeuomorphism. A weather application is with a denim texture is just a weather app with a denim texture. It could just as easily have a squiggly line texture or have a solid purple neon background. It might be ugly and stupid but that doesn't make it skeuomorphism.

Re: Skeuomorphism

#35

Post by wvenable »

dm8 wrote: post #19

As a designer, I couldn't agree more. Skeuomorphism can be great if done right. Nowadays visual designers (who are wannabee UX folks) think any sexy texture (leather patterns) can increase usability of an app. Even startup founders think the same. They don't realize design is not the shiny new coat of paint, design is how it works. In fact if your users think "it works fine", it means you've done great job. Your obje…

I've been a software developer for many years and sexy design sells. For good or bad, that's the way it is.

Re: Skeuomorphism

#38

Post by Smudge »

wvenable wrote: post #33
Smudge wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. This site seems to call-out anything with a certain kind of texture as "skeumorphic," and many of the examples are quite attractive on their own. But I think you're pigeonholing it into a certain school of design. I don't see it calling out just any texture -- only a certain range commonly found in software these days (especially on iOS). I'm talking about denim, paper, stone, leather, and other rough, durab…

> I'm talking about denim, paper, stone, leather... Add glass, wood, and brick and that's probably every common surface texture that humans interact with daily. Is it really any surprise that these are used over and over? You claim it's derivative but maybe it's just common.

> "maybe it's just common"

Perhaps making it a poor choice for building a brandable user interface. That is, if you want your app to stand out from the crowd.

Re: Skeuomorphism

#39

Post by awakeasleep »

notatoad wrote: post #20
shinratdr wrote: post #7

So skeuomorphism is now anything besides Windows Phone style "pure digital"? Shiny = glass, black texture = leather, blue texture = denim, etc? That's going to be really, really boring. I don't know why texture is such a bad thing. Of course you can overdo it like anything, but personally I prefer Reeder with a light paper-pulp backing texture instead of a plain light peach background. For example, what is so bad abo…

>For example, what is so bad about this? http://skeu.it/image/24908403424 from a usability standpoint, absolutely nothing. from an aesthetic standpoint, it is tacky as hell. They may as well have wrapped their login form with faux-fur texture leopard print. You're right, it is merely a stylistic choice and it isn't going to confuse the users. That doesn't make it good.

So you would say it violates the Universal and Objective standards of good taste?

Re: Skeuomorphism

#40

Post by gbog »

tb303 wrote: post #24

Hey all. I'm the curator (punch me in the feelings for saying that) of Skeu.it. Thanks for the support! I'm enjoying the debate here and won't get too much into it. For those arguing what is and isn't skeuomorphism, you're missing the point of the showcase. Skeu.it, as specified on the masthead, celebrates arbitrary and gratuitous user interface decisions. Specifically, this means the misappropriation of visual artif…

Agree with your fight, thanks for carving this site about gratuitous user interface decisions, really. However, I am puzzled that you don't apply this to your writing and use proper capitalization.
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