Lars,
On Sep 27, 2012, at 10:13 AM, Lars Albinsson wrote:
> 3d rendering of actual internal disk drive. . . . I expect most users have never (had) to see one.
Back in the days when "paperless office" was a popular phrase, much was said about the Mac "desktop" stuff--What happens when new users had never seen a file folder, thrown something in a trashcan, etc.
> Perhaps it doesn't count as skeuomorphism?
>
I read a blog that mentioned how silly it was for people who had never heard the word "skeuomorphism" a year ago arguing about its definition so maybe I shouldn't bite on that one.
There are several different modes of representation in screen-based interface design. One could argue that all signification is metaphorical or at least analogical. Creating a "button" on a screen is an analogy. It is also a remnant of past function where a mechanical button would have been used, thus skeuomorphism.
When you indicate "clickable place on the screen" with a picture of something, it's usually a metaphor or analogy of sorts. When it's a picture of something that used to provide a similar function to clicking that place and it resembles a pushable/mechanical button, that seems to be skeuomorphism squared. But at some point it's akin to a "dead metaphor"--metaphors that cease being metaphors because they take on a more direct level of signification; the mouth of a river or the trunk of a car started out as metaphors and now are just the names of things.
My objection to much of what gets called skeuomorphism in interface design such as Apple's walnutish book shelf pictures and leatherish calendars isn't primarily about the life status of the metaphor. It would take too long to parse the good/bad/valid/invalid reasons that I find them disturbingly schlocky but the more important point is that they create a lot of noise. One can argue that the change from the simple, flat "icons" of, say, Mac System 5 to the "3D" versions of System X drew attention to the clickable place since other surfaces were simple and flat in appearance. (If Steve Jobs wanted to lick them, the rest of us at least noticed them.) "3D" "books" on a similarly "3D" "bookshelf" reduce that contrast so whether they're skeuomorphic or metaphors on life support strikes me as less important than the reduction in visual clarity.
Gunnar
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Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
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+1 252 258 7006
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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