I was so excited to see this article on Fast Co. Design: "Apple. The name has become synonymous with good design. But it’s also had a few missteps in recent years. Skeuomorphism is taking the place of clean interfaces."
- http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670012/4-design-details-we-loved-at-apples-big-launch-and-1-we-really-hated
Here's another talking about the whole thing:
As both Thompson’s and Biddle’s articles describe, the philosophy that drives the majority of contemporary UIs is called skeuomorphism. Derived from the Greek words Skeuos, meaning vessel or tool, and morph, meaning shape, a skeuomorph is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a “derivative object that retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original.” The term can apply to either a physical or digital creation. In other words, it means to replicate the form and material qualities of something that are no longer inherently necessary, all with the objective of making new designs “look comfortably old and familiar,” Nicholas Gessler writes in “Skeuomorphs and Cultural Algorithms.” When applied to UI, the logic here is that it will make the interface more intuitive and usable, as the user will understand how it functions based on their knowledge of the analog object it is replicating.
- http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669879/can-we-please-move-past-apples-silly-faux-real-uis
But what I am really fascinated with is how we choose or become with Skeuomorphs. The investigation continues.