Another argument for Apple to move beyond skeuomorphism in design

I'm not alone in wanting Apple to move past skeuomorphic design, Fast Co. Design has an article by Tom Hobbs, making the same plea.

The point is that there’s something that feels gratuitously obvious about the philosophical approach Apple takes to the design of the iPad book app and many of its other recent application designs. It’s very easy for skeuomorphism to become a crutch and a way to justify lazy design decisions: “This is what is familiar to users, and this is what they understand.” Digitally re-creating real materials and analog objects very quickly becomes aesthetics for aesthetics sake. It’s hard to believe that all but a minute percentage of Apple’s user base has a tan-suede–bound calendar or book of any sort, or anything else that looks remotely similar. Unfortunately, these are the characteristics of skeuomorphism that a vast majority of UI designers employ when they use this approach (see Blackberry’s Playbook). Ultimately, it encourages designers to become less critical and less inventive, which is detrimental to evolving new and improved solutions.

[Read the whole article](credit: my co-worker, @gregflory)