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Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

blog.prototypr.io

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Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#51

Post by chrismcb »

tomc1985 wrote: post #24
RachelF wrote: post #18

Please do bring it back. In my opinion, it looks better than the flat modern interfaces that everybody now uses. Starting with Windows 8 phone minimalism has made computer interfaces uglier, and harder to use. It seems like UI designers are just as fashion concious as clothes fashion designers, and also have less concern for the comfort/usability of their product. [1]

Fashion really has no place in computing. These are tools and we should treat them as such "The reaction, as all reactionary trends, was to throw out everything that came before and fully embrace this new direction of minimalist ui, white space layouts and magazine typesetting. Some argue that it was a timely change to meet the demands of the increasing complexities of the interface. That we had grown out of the need…

If course fashion has a place in computing. It has a place in physical tools as well. You want a tool to be easy to use. A purely designed tool isn't easy to use. Fashion comes into play to design tools that are easy to user and nice to look at... In the case if UI, the look look is a part of the too as well. You want people to buy your product. People tend to buy the latest fashion.

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#52

Post by wildrhythms »

stephencoyner wrote: post #49
wildrhythms wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When every app looks and acts the same, why have different apps at all? What I want is one single mega app that does everything. At least then I can rest peacefully knowing that the interfaces between all of my digital playspaces are consistent. Think of how wonderful it will be when I can open my phone and not be surprised by what a designer has carefully crafted. This excites you too, doesn't it?

I'm not saying everything should be the same, my first sentence said quite the opposite. I'm just saying let's not bring the constraints of the physical world into mobile app design, let's get a little more creative.

I'm of the opinion that "Material design" is exactly what my comment portrays... a world where all interfaces look and act alike, where everything must adhere to "best practices" at the expense of a unique experience and fresh ideas.

My thought is that, if the goal is more creativity, then we have to move away from trying to homogenize user experiences by funneling them into the same identical visual theme (read: "Material design")

I didn't mean my previous comment to rip on what you were saying; this just comes from someone who is working on a project that has been shorehorned into Material design and I sincerely think the user interface has worsened as a result.

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#53

Post by torgoguys »

currywurst wrote: post #21

It's time for the pendulum to swing back I guess ;) The article give iOS 7 the credit for ushering in the 'flat' design trends ... But I remember the Windows Phone 7-8 'Metro' (later renamed to Modern) design language as the key influence. It blew away people with the attention to typography and proportional grid-based layouts.

I think you're right. But, in a reversal of roles, Microsoft did the design well and Apple's copy was a poor, souless wannabe IMO. They sucked any semblance of "joy" (for lack of a better word) out of the Metro ideas and iOS.

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#54

Post by ascorbic »

et-al wrote: post #5

Yes please. Apple had a good balance between skeuomorphism and minimalism a few years ago, but as Jony Ive & Co. strip out decoration for flatness, iOS 11 almost looks unfinished. Case in point: the PIN screen and the calculator app. Lock screen: https://file.mockplus.com/image/2017/10/5627bfee-8dbf-44b4-9... Calculator: http://cdn.iphonehacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iOS-10... I live in an old Victorian house,…

It makes sense in places where the UI is still based on a physical item, such as the calculator and calendar, and many icons. Apple took it too far by removing almost all gradients and shadows. It just looks boring. The icons of iOS default apps are particularly dull and ugly. Material Design is a nice balance, with the clean lines of a flat UI, but with just enough detail to give it depth.

The article also mentions the other area where skeumorphic design is missed, and that's in the playful details. Flawed as the app was in many ways, and as much as many people hated it, I loved the reel-to-reel tape animation in the iOS Podcasts app ( https://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2012/12/2012-12-17-iOS_P... )

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#55

Post by nnq »

Kind of dooh: as we get better and higher DPI display, skeumorphic designs are too good at showing off how good the displays actually are to worth passing off :P

Thing with skeumorphic design is that people really don't know where to stop when they start doing it... so it will be a cycles thing: at some point all cargo-cult designers overdo it, everyone gets sick of it, and we're back to Metro. To be hones though, I like the "improved flat" phase of Material Design and I hope we stay on it as much as possible, so we can focus on things like UX more instead. Back in the days of full-skeumorphic fever, "good UX" was seen as worthless ammateurish crap unless dressed in tons of graphic desinger makeup...

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#56

Post by nnq »

userbinator wrote: post #44

IMHO the most important skeuomorphic thing in UI is to make buttons actually look like buttons, i.e. they are obviously meant to be pressed. Far too much time has been wasted on trying to learn UIs where buttons are virtually indistinguishable from static text. Borderless buttons are particularly frustrating, especially when there's multiple of them next to each other.

THIS. Material Design guidelines tried to drill these into deisgners' head. But man, their damn artsy skulls are thiiiiick...

There should be a "Shadow + Fill if it's tappable/clickable. F please!" rule though in every design school. Every time I see it not followed I get a fit of rage, that unfortunately I need to swallow and not fire the designer because I know he's otherwise good at UX too.

It's should something like a "don't f drive when you're drunk rule" rule... common sense to every-f-body!

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#58

Post by nnq »

tomc1985 wrote: post #24
RachelF wrote: post #18

Please do bring it back. In my opinion, it looks better than the flat modern interfaces that everybody now uses. Starting with Windows 8 phone minimalism has made computer interfaces uglier, and harder to use. It seems like UI designers are just as fashion concious as clothes fashion designers, and also have less concern for the comfort/usability of their product. [1]

Fashion really has no place in computing. These are tools and we should treat them as such "The reaction, as all reactionary trends, was to throw out everything that came before and fully embrace this new direction of minimalist ui, white space layouts and magazine typesetting. Some argue that it was a timely change to meet the demands of the increasing complexities of the interface. That we had grown out of the need…

> Fashion really has no place in computing. These are tools and we should treat them as such

This cracked me up... You do realize that even things like programming language selection are 90% fashion-driven, right?

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#59

Post by makecheck »

userbinator wrote: post #44

IMHO the most important skeuomorphic thing in UI is to make buttons actually look like buttons, i.e. they are obviously meant to be pressed. Far too much time has been wasted on trying to learn UIs where buttons are virtually indistinguishable from static text. Borderless buttons are particularly frustrating, especially when there's multiple of them next to each other.

It’s amazing how many Accessibility settings I have to turn on in iOS (which restore shaped buttons, etc.) in order to make the system sensible. While I’m glad the options even exist, I am a fan of sensible defaults and Apple and Google do not have those.

Re: Bringing Back Skeuomorphic Design

#60

Post by oldcynic »

ascorbic wrote: post #54
et-al wrote: post #5

Yes please. Apple had a good balance between skeuomorphism and minimalism a few years ago, but as Jony Ive & Co. strip out decoration for flatness, iOS 11 almost looks unfinished. Case in point: the PIN screen and the calculator app. Lock screen: https://file.mockplus.com/image/2017/10/5627bfee-8dbf-44b4-9... Calculator: http://cdn.iphonehacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iOS-10... I live in an old Victorian house,…

It makes sense in places where the UI is still based on a physical item, such as the calculator and calendar, and many icons. Apple took it too far by removing almost all gradients and shadows. It just looks boring. The icons of iOS default apps are particularly dull and ugly. Material Design is a nice balance, with the clean lines of a flat UI, but with just enough detail to give it depth. The article also mentions…

Material Design is as much part of the flat and ugly problem as anyone else. I was on Android until 12 months ago when I switched back to iOS. They both have their low points, and less low points, but both are flat, ugly, anti-design, experiences. (You may infer I'm not a fan of absolute flatness, on either platform)

If I see an image from iOS 6 to 7 period I'm struck by how much better most 6 icons are than what's come since. Depth is actually really useful. I don't miss gimmicks like the wood effects, or star burst backgrounds on some icons etc. Android was much less coherent back in Android 4, so the whole sense of consistency came along with the flattening through Jelly Bean and Kitkat until you arrive at the children's Pogs interface of Nougat. Jelly Bean or Kitkat were the high point. We can thank Material Design for the coherency and some good, and needed, guidelines for colour.

Your image gives Forbidden btw.

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