The Resurgence of Skeuomorphism in Mobile UX design
Skeuomorphism took shape in 1980s & Steve Jobs was an early advocate of this design concept.
Let’s first define Skeuomorphism & understand its relevancy in todays’ era.
Defining Skeuomorphism
It is a term used in graphical user interface where an object in digital software mimics its real world counterpart in terms of their appearance & their interaction.
Example:- Page flip animation on Apple Books reader app on iPad. The idea of Skeuomorphic is simple, computer interfaces and interactions should be more intuitive & thus reduce the learning curve for users.
Then what’s wrong with Skeuomorphism ….
Skeuomorphism offers a great advantage in terms of skipping the learning curve at a fast pace & thus increase adoption ;however , it came with its own baggage in terms of rise in clutter & extra detail in interfaces. This was unnecessary because there was a whole new generation which was exposed to computer software from the very beginning & thus wasn’t looking for cues from real world objects.
Subsequently , there was a rise of flat design , new OS patterns , touch screens & minimalistic approach. This resulted in demise of skeuomorphism.
Users continue to evolve at a fast pace with the growth in complex user interfaces. There was a reduction in attention spans & there was limited tolerance for the friction offered by Skeuomorphism .
Let’s look at the objects and their interaction shared below. These interaction didn’t exist in real world & were launched by software interfaces.
The Revival of Skeuomorphism
The arrival of Smartwatches & IOT has brought Skeuomorphism to mainstream of design thinking. Users are digitally interacting with more real world objects such as watches ,cars & appliances.
The most common example could be Samsung Galaxy watch. It is round in shape & have watch faces similar to the analogue watch. We are habitual to glance at the watch to see the time . It’s intuitive & ingrained in our action.
Skeuomorphism is here to stay ; however it needs to adapt with the rise of IOT. It can’t sustain on just plain mimicking of the real world experiences. It should take only the necessary cues from the real world experiences & amalgamate with the minimalistic design in order to offer the best of both the worlds to the users.
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