"Earlier this week Apple fired Scott Forstall, the architect of its iOS platform, and handed his duties over to the company's chief industrial designer, Jonathan Ive. Ive and Forstall had an infamously chilly working relationship, and one of their biggest disagreements was over the role of so-called 'skeuomorphic' design in Apple's products. Forstall, like his mentor Steve Jobs, favored it; Ive disliked it. To many observers, Forstall's forced exit looks like a vindication of Ive's stance. But if he wants to continue Apple's enviable trend of innovation, he'd be a fool to throw the baby of skeuomorphism out with Forstall's bathwater." Hoped for a thorough article on the benefits of skeuomorphism - got the age-old and intrinsically invalid excuse 'because it sells'. Windows isn't he best desktop operating system because it sells so well. Lady Gaga isn't the best artist because she sells a lot of records. This argument is never valid, has zero value, and adds nothing to what should be an interesting discussion.
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Member since:2010-03-08
While excessive skeumorphism does wake up my animal self, it's more often about primal rage than feelings of endearment
Member since:2007-08-27
hmm, So those who don't find skeuomorphism attractive are somehow perverse. Don't buy it or the idea it's removal would end Apples commercial success.
Personally, I find skeuomorphism has a place in design just not the absurd level it's reached at Apple. Besides, and I suppose this is even more subjective, so many of them just suck. They look crap and dated which doesn't mean skeuomorphism is bad in-itself just Apples design team really suck at visuals.
Member since:2008-01-09
The interesting thing in the article is that the argument "it is good because it sells" is not the argument put forth by the person writing the article and not the reason I submitted it. Confuting an argument by misrepresenting it is the textbook definition of strawman right?
If you wanted to stretch things you could cut a few parts in the following argument (which is similar to the argument made about OSX and iOS by the article writer), re-arrange it, and call it a day
"skeuomorphism can lead to visually pleasing and familiar UI's (when not abused) --> iOS is liked because it has a well designed, mostly very coherent, familiar UI and does use skeumorphic elements in a few places --> iOS sells because it has some good qualities, nice UI being one of them"
Member since:2012-08-26
Skeuomorphism is behavioral economics. It is always about marketing products to a particular socio-economic class of consumers - the bourgeois middle class.
If you are poor, you get an item, if you can afford it, for its purpose. I buy a used car to get to work. If you are rich, you get an item, because you can afford it, for purposes other than its true use. I buy a car that has real leather seats, real wood paneling, etc. It is a show of wealth and prosperity.
If I am in the middle aspiring to be upper, I am susceptible to marketing that uses skeuomorphism. I get that car for work, yes, but hey look at the fake leather seats. That must show that I am wealthier or 'cooler' than all the others. This has been done for hundreds of years, and Apple is making millions with this model.
The new iPad mini has specifications far below its price tag. And consumers in this demographic which are now 'hooked' will continue to buy it until something new displaces the 'coolness' of it.
If they get rid of skeuomorphism too much, will that sink future sales? Will Metro RT & Surface become the new 'cool'?
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Member since:
2006-07-26
Does someone understand why skeuomorphism is so attractive? Its because it makes our instincts to react. Our subconscious ourself. Animal inside. It feels like something familiar, something it is used to. Not something "authentically digital". Just watch rich texture and feel how it touches your deeply. It is powerful, bacause we are still animals, all our motivation is still there, and motivation to buy as well. So I predict: end of reasonable skeumorthism will be the end of commercial success.