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| 'Rift' within Apple over skeuomorphism fetish |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-09-11 20:28:55 |
| Ah, skeuomorphism - my favourite punching bag. Austin Carr has spoken to former Apple designers and people within the company, and they're all confirming there's a rift within Cupertino between people who want to move away from skeuomorphism, and people who want to retain it as much as possible, and even want to expand it. Since I've long hoped for Apple to ditch this "visual masturbation", as one former Apple designer calls it, I'm happy to learn not the entire company supports skeuomorphism. |
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| RE[4]: I don't get it... |
| By MOS6510 on 2012-09-12 14:43:51 |
| I can disagree with that. It is indeed amazing that, I assume, a group of people decided this was the way to go. |
 - Score: 2 |
| RE: I don't get it... |
| By No it isnt on 2012-09-12 16:22:05 |
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It matters the moment the secondary invention (iCal) has replaced the primary invention (the physical calendar): every function is a photo-realistic imitation of something the user has never been acquainted with. There's a reason why Apple invented the red stylised handset as the 'reject call' button instead of using a photorealistic rendering of a 1970s era phone with the handset resting on the phone itself: red is commonly used as a stop signal, whereas no one uses a 1970s era phone any more. Language is symbolic, not imitative. Imitations of things that don't exist are meaningless to a user; symbolic representations of actual functions are not. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: I don't get it... |
| By _txf_ on 2012-09-12 17:43:40 |
|
> There's a reason why Apple invented the red stylised handset as the 'reject call' button They "invented it".... |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[3]: I don't get it... |
| By smashIt on 2012-09-12 18:08:00 |
|
just read his statement and his nick in a row ;) > a reason why Apple invented the red stylised handset > No it isnt |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Speaking of |
| By quackalist on 2012-09-12 18:11:47 |
|
Meh, however..."The iPHONE 5 UNDERMINES western DEMOCRACY: 5 reasons why Owning one will be the badge of an utter fool" http://www.theregister.co.uk/201... might as well get it in early. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Nothing new |
| By BallmerKnowsBest on 2012-09-12 18:35:16 |
|
Remember the first release of OS X (and the Public Beta)? And remember the most visually-hideous part of it? No, not the overly-literal interpretation of "Aqua" (is that a scrollbar, or a jell-coated lozenge?). And no, not the impossible-to-disable animation effects that even Apple's then-top-of-line machines could barely handle. Nope, the creme-de-la-crap was the hideously, hideously ugly photo-realistic depiction of a hard drive that they used as the disk volume icon. Not only was that a good sign that no one at Apple understood the connection between the words "icon" and "iconic" - but that they also failed to grasp the difference between volumes/partitions & physical disks. So not only was the icon pointless skeuomorphism (to the point of being LESS useful than the more abstract icons it replaced), it wasn't even accurate to boot. When they backpedalled & removed that stupid icon in later releases (and stopped filling the screen with glossy blue blobs), it seemed like they'd actually learned their lesson. But now it's become clear that Apple's skeuomorphism fetish is like a case of herpes - the outbreaks can be treated, but it's never going to be truly cured. If there is any rationale behind Apple's current skeuomorphism fetish, it boils down to this: tackiness is no longer tacky if it's high-res. And it's absolutely priceless to see Apple fanboys defend it by arguing "it's just aesthetics, it doesn't impact functionality"... especially from a group that's STILL repeating the same incredibly lame, overused "LOL playskool fisherprice LOL" jokes about XP. |
| - Score: 3 |
| It made me wonder... |
| By cjlucas on 2012-09-13 11:53:17 |
| if the people who started to do Skeuomorphism in design for applications are either related or the same people who came up with the UI for third party device managers for Windows; for example, the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel or the RealTek Audio Manager. While these device managers are functional, they look alien to the rest of the system as though they were designed to fit into some custom theme that you'd run into on DeviantArt. Sometimes, they have a cool look and would like to be applied to the rest of the system, but most of the time I have this urge to close the device manager as quickly as possible. I guess that's the correlation I have in my mind: almost all of the Skeuomorph examples I've seen makes me want to close the application and not take it seriously. |
| - Score: 1 |
| Speak for yourself |
| By Hussein on 2012-09-13 14:21:53 |
| I like it |
| - Score: 0 |
| A long time in coming |
| By Luke McCarthy on 2012-09-14 11:33:03 |
|
Mac OS started going off the rails with Mac OS X (actually it probably started earlier with QuickTime and iTunes). With every version it got progressively worse. It started with plastic shiny buttons, then they added some chrome, then they went all in with wood and other such garish themes. Mac OS 9 is much more beautiful to my eyes, even if it's a bit old-fashioned for modern tastes. I really love Android's Holo (ICS) theme. It's a great example of modern, simple and tasteful design. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[2]: skeuomorphism should be abandoned |
| By bassbeast on 2012-09-14 12:36:28 |
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Not to mention that all those animations and other bling bling are sucking ever more power when one is running battery. While i don't care for the metro UI I can see why they got rid of Aero, first thing I did on my netbook was kill the thing and you can tell a difference as far as how long the battery lasts. To me the best way to look at UI design is this: Does this make it easier and quicker for the user? Does this give an actual benefit to the user and help them perform a task? if the answer to any of the above is no? Toss it. |
| - Score: 2 |
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