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Apple's Designers Clashing Over 'Tacky' Software Skeuomorphisms

I guess the question is, does technology become invisible so something must be left in it's place (skeuomorphism)? Or does technology itself dominate the interaction? I for one like the fact the I can interact with things I find intuitive, that are related more to reality. The younger generation though never had those things, so they seem odd. "A calendar?" "With leather?" But the reality is that was perfectly normal until a PDA came around.

Anyway, I like it. It's almost like steam punk. Technology can grow to a point where things are magic-like. Why not have it look classic and romantic rather than cold and calculated?
 
Again, design egos clash. These so called designers need to take a chill pill. Apple doesn't do their designs in a tacky way, they do it right. That's why it's visually different from all other competitors like Samesong's nature bs on top of Android OS.

It's always ex-designers too. They're ex for a reason.

Apple is not gonna go in direction that Microsoft and Google (identically) follow. They use very similar colors, styles and layouts.
 
Bout time Apple did something about this. IOS and OSX are infested with skeuomorphic representations which are utterly and completely tasteless.
 
Glad to hear they're at least having the debate... the skeuomorphic crap is just awful.

If you're going down the skeuomorphic route, then AT LEAST make it clever and/or whimsical ("stitched-leather" is neither) or let us re-skin it to something less awful.
 
If Tim cook is ever unsure what to do, the answer should always be listen to Jony Ive.
 
weing said:
All I can say is whoever approved the "stitching" in calendar and then decided also it was somehow a good idea that the the DAYS ,DATES and TIMES should be rendered in grayscale instead of BLACK should be bludgeoned to death with a massive sledgehammer.
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I'll have you know that it was steve jobs who chose it when he was fascinated about the leather in his jet, and wanted to mimic it as close as possible
 
Interested to see how this battle ultimately plays out. Scott Forstall has been described in other articles as "Mini-Steve" and has been named numerous times as a potential successor to the almighty CEO chair once Cook retires. If the skeuomorphisms become a more prevalent theme in iOSX, I think it will be a sign that the CEO chair might one day go to Forstall. Time will tell...
 
Ever see Apple's podcast app?

podcasts-scrub-bar.png


While old farts like John Gruber (and myself) may think that's neat, I showed it to a high school student and they didn't know what it was.
 
The Skeumorphic design choices are the small details, the visual bridges that ease the consumer into what could be very confusing, technical and potentially intimidating spaces within the various applications. You build in a little analog familiarity for your eyes as you transition in the digital space.

Not everyone is as tech savvy as the majority of those posting and reading here. When my mother launches iBooks she is happy to see the shelf and her little books on it, she gets that.
 
i'm in the skeuomorphisms column (who expected to learn that word today?!).

i like the extra character add ons. the way hidden windows slide into the dock, the puff of cloud when you take something out of the dock, back in the day when people still used them the ripple from adding a new widget, everything apple has done (from the beginning - icons for folders weren't "needed" just a way to demonstrate a folder's actions from a physical file drawer to the computer) has given their computers and now ios devices character. i like that. makes the experience "fun" or more pleasant. they never branded themselves a business machine, never went that way for how they look, feel, or operate. i think this legacy is important to continue.
 
This skeu- word feels like it was planted to see who adopts it incorrectly. It probably actually means something else entirely. Like the practice of planting words in inappropriate contexts to see who uses it blindly.

I do hate the leather stitched look. I hate the 'page turning' effect in iBooks. I mostly hate it because I have a very small 13" screen and wasted pixels are wasted pixels.
 
Fwink! said:
This is why Ives was not a good choice for heading apple. If he can't creatively direct a group of designers, forget a company.
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What does Ive have to do with software? As far as I know he has no control over software. I suppose he can voice his opinion but Forstall and Federighi (sp?) are responsible for software.
 
dBeats said:
I guess the question is, does technology become invisible so something must be left in it's place (skeuomorphism)? Or does technology itself dominate the interaction? I for one like the fact the I can interact with things I find intuitive, that are related more to reality. The younger generation though never had those things, so they seem odd. "A calendar?" "With leather?" But the reality is that was perfectly normal until a PDA came around.

Anyway, I like it. It's almost like steam punk. Technology can grow to a point where things are magic-like. Why not have it look classic and romantic rather than cold and calculated?
Click to expand...

I love the steam-punk analogy! you raise a good point about the generational thing too. I'm not exactly a young mac user at 34 but I can honestly say that I have never owned, nor do I know anyone who has owned a leather desk calendar. Apple, it seems to me, need to be quite careful about the specific visual language they use with these new style apps for fear of placing them outside the threshold of familiarity for large sections of their user base.
 
I personally like "skeuomorphism" (awful word), I think it makes the purpose of an application instantly obvious and makes the application easier to use.
 
PeterQVenkman said:
Ever see Apple's podcast app?

Image

While old farts like John Gruber (and myself) may think that's neat, I showed it to a high school student and they didn't know what it was.
Click to expand...

:confused: 1987 here... Same reaction as the high school student. And it doesn't look easy. Not at all! It looks like a mess.

Makes me sad :(
 
This is such a non issue that you sheep just herded yourself over the cliff to comment on it.
Green felt or no green felt. Oh no!
 
Lime, Lemon. Each OS has a different approach, each are loved and hated by different people.

s4Ixb.jpg

(Excuse the busy Birthday Schedule)
 
Windows 8 UI maybe functional but it's dry and has 0 visual appeals to it. It looks like programmer art.
 
Easy to solve

Yes, SJ needed to control all the design details. But it would be easy, I'd think, to have two skins for apps like Calendar. We users would simply see a new slider in their Settings pages. Am I missing something here?
 
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