Flatland

Flatland

-Should the virtual world try to look like the real one?-

Kiyotaka ISHIKAWA

A trash can on your computer screen. You know what it is for, but should it be like a real-world trash can? Today’s software design world have questioned itself about this, and finally turned out to be against any kind of mimic or skeuomorphical design, as Apple’s iOS7 unveiled with its entirely abstract and flat interface. The term skeuomorph actually refers to an element in an object’s design that is no longer functionally necessary but has been retained anyway for ornamental purposes. However, skeuomorphism have played a significant role in the realm of software design for functional purposes. What function was it, and why is it no longer necessary?

What skeuomorphism have done in software design?

When we face a new technology like a smartphone, its interface does not have to look like a real world stuffs, but it does because it works well in the way we instantly know what it is for. For example, in 1984, Apple introduced the original Mackintosh with a digital rendering of a desktop, where windows, documents, folders, and a trash can were skeuomorphically designed to mimic the real physical work environment we were used to. 

Although skeuomorphical design has made unfamiliar digital environment feel safe and easy at at the very early ages of personal computers, there is a powerful sentiment against it among most software designers. It was Apple that introduced skeuomorphical design successfully on personal computers for the first time, but now the same company is going to reject it from its latest product’s interface. 

Why skeuomorphism is no longer necessary? 

How many people still need to learn what the virtual trash can is for? Computers are  already indispensable to our schools and jobs; even pre-school children know how to use computers before they learn to read and write. There is no more need for skeuomorphical designs as an intuitive understanding of its function. 

On the contrary, even different problems has arisen in importing designs from the physical object into the digital one. One is that skeuomorphism puts limits on what digital objects can do. While using a trash can on the virtual desktop, three physical action are required to just delete a document: drag it, drop it on the can, and click the empty button. This sequence feels quite bothersome for those who get used to simple and easy practice of smartphones and tablet computers. 

What is the post-skeuomorphic future?

The desktop will be soon outdated as the sales of tablet PCs and smartphones grow. At least, it is the least effective in consuming information over the internet, that is the function today’s users want the most out of computers. Moreover, the conventional system of document reserving and classifying will be completely replaced by sharing and searching over the air. In fact, the virtual desktop can handle a lot of documents on a single screen, but why not possible it is on other forms of interface?

*Article from TIME issued June 3, 2013