Skeuomorphs are your friend — maybe.

We learned a new word this week – “skeuomorph.”  It is a form of metaphor. When you go to save something on your computer, you look for the floppy disk icon, even though most of us haven’t used a floppy disk in at least 15 years. That icon is a skeuomorph, when something new takes the form of something it replaced. 

This is detailed in a Twitter thread from the outstanding @culturaltutor account.  As they point out, skeuomorphs are everywhere.  The phone icon on your iphone that resembles an old corded phone. The non-functional cooling vents on the grilles of electric cars.  The camera in the Instagram logo or the shutter sound when you take a picture on your phone. The outline of a AA battery that appears when your laptop is charging.  The envelope icon in the old Gmail logo.  

Some of the virtual controls on editing software like Garageband resemble those of old-school audio boards used 30 years ago in radio studios.

Skeuomorphs are also used in architecture.  For example, Ancient Greek temples have some decorative stone features that are based on functional features in earlier wooden temples. In a home, a non-load bearing column is a kind of skeuomorph. 

Part of marketing’s job is to make the familiar seem unfamiliar and the unfamiliar seem familiar.  Skeuomorphs, as metaphors, do this. In tech, they make new devices feel more comfortable and less intimidating. 

Critics argue that skeuomorphs also  can make for unnecessarily cumbersome user experiences. In UX circles, enthusiasm for skeuomorphic design has waxed and waned over the years.

What do you think of skeuomorphs?  Can you think of other examples?