When was the last time you searched for the user manual after buying a new phone? For most of us, all it takes is common sense and we will have our new gadget figured out on the first day. Or the second, if we are more Luddite-inclined.
But is it really common sense that guides us through? Or is it skeuomorphism?
Skeuomorphism is a design approach that clues users into how to operate both physical and digital objects.
Just like a spectrum, it has many uses and applications. At the beggining, it is used as a clue to the potential a certain tool holds, such as how a door knob suggests that a door can be opened, or how a button with an envelope suggests that this is where to send a message or an email. At the end, when skeuomorphs are over-used, they become just an aesthetic that makes the user feel comfortable, like the rivet on your jeans, or the leather bindings on the old iOS calendar.
Matt Webb who runs BERG, a design company that makes electronic devices incorporating human faces and emotions, told the BBC that :
“People that criticize skeuomorphism say it's pointless, but I say it isn't. It increases your understanding of the product. Technology is getting so complicated that we're going to have to find ways for people to understand what it can do without having to spell it out."
Although skeuomorphism is used across many operating systems serving variable gadgets, the company whose wide use of skeuomorphs generated the most heated debate was Apple.
Steve Jobs was known to be a huge fan of skeuomorphism, as was iOS creator Scott Forstall. Many argue that over the years, Apple’s use for skeuomorphism had crossed the line of being useful clues to being a clutter of aesthetics.
But that’s not just it, it isn’t serving its purpose any more. Skeuomorphism primarily serves as a transitional tool when introducing a new way of doing something, such as when computers or smartphones were introduced. Almost all adults have crossed that transitional phase and are well aware of the functions computers and smartphones have to offer. On the other hand, for the younger generations of smartphone users, most of the mimics inspired from the physical world are foreign to their consciousness, such reel-to-reel tape decks and paper calendars.
Realizing this, Apple’s design chief Jony Ive did what many were hoping for. The market was presented with iOS 7 free of skeuomorphism, a move that was hailed by many . Windows 8's most recent design was also hailed by many skeumorphism critics, as the appreciated the clean lines and colorful backgrounds.
Whether the skeumorphic backlash continues, or if both design trends will prevail, only the future market can decide that.