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there is an interesting discussion is picking up steam over in the discussion forum on Skeuomorphic Design. Long time poster "Slippyfish" defines a skeuomorph as a derivative object which retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original. This really ranges from things like ornamental shutters on a new home that don't shut, to the five bolt pattern on Ducati gas caps even though only three of those are now functional, to the shapes of modern shoes which have evolved from cobbler's wooden foot forms and have little to do with the anatomical foot, but instead more to do with our perceptions of what a shoe should look like.
An area this is happening at a rapid rate is in the convergence of physical and digital experiences. Think of how many apps on you iPhone have skins that look like physical buttons. Sometimes the skeuomorph is a design cop out, and sometimes it helps us bridge the gap between experiences to intuitively know how to use something without any experience. Would Guitar Hero be any fun with out a guitar shaped controller? To that end, Sean brings up the iPad DJ app, which mimics a real turntable visually. Its not what you need, but its what you want!
Check out the discussion and weigh in > HERE.
Comments
Yeah, I could post on the board, but I'll keep it free of riff raff like me.
The funniest example of skeuomorphic design I can think of is the nipples on Batman's armor.
But when it relates physical objects in the virtual world, heck, everything does that- so much so that I don't think the word should be used. It's the whole "desktop paradigm," and other UIs that, as mentioned above, "bridge the gap between experiences to intuitively know how to use something without any experience." What else do we have to relate it to? Experience and other UIs.
I'd like to add that dressing accessories... hats, watches, even phone waist clips are almost an example of this in themselves. For us a humans, we use these things to put that extra 'addage' on even though they don't really serve the same needed purpose of a shirt or a pair of jeans.... make-up as well... not to say we put on extra for nothing, but these simple details and expressive contours bring out our creations that much more... necessary? no. Inspirational and quite aesthetically pleasing as well as innovating? i think soooo!
@Wesley
I wouldn't say that accessories in and of themselves are skeuomorphic. It depends on the accessory. Is it a watch you use daily? Then it's still serving a purpose. A necklace's purpose is to look good, it never served a function (afaik), so saying that it doesn't have a purpose doesn't mean it's skeuomorphic. Now, is your watch littered with fake screws, to simulate real ones on a diving watch? Does it have a bezel with minutes on it, but the bezel doesn't spin? Those would be skeuomorphic details. If you wore a fake watch, that didn't actually tell time but looked like it did, then that would be a skeuomorphic accessory. You might be able to argue that a watch that you never use, even if it still tells time, is skeuomorphic. If you do use your watch to tell time (as I do) then it's not as it's still serving a function. Otherwise, everything in the world becomes skeuomorphic aside from food and air, because you don't really "need" anything else.
Back in pre-glorious Greece, folks would have their religious ceremonies in groves of trees.- - - When they became rich, they worshiped in stone temples with stone columns, that were frequently topped with capitals adorned with stone leaves - - - - Hundreds of years later these were revived, in eccentric combinations, when folks didn't want to be thought of as medieval - - - - Time passes. Wealthy New England ship captains in search of a little class put simplified wooden columns on the doorways and comers of their wooden houses, It was called Greek Revival. in case you didn't get it.- - -
Now we have even simpler foam versions to glue on the fronts on box-stores