What is Skeuomorph? Elon Musk Joins Fascinating Twitter Thread on Classic Design Technique
A Twitter thread gave a deep insight into skeuomorphism which even fascinated the platform's chief Elon Musk to join the chat.
Have you noticed the logo of Gmail that resembles the design of an envelope even when there’s no use of paper or postage? Or the clock icon on the phone that looks exactly like your wall clock? Almost every graphical feature that we find on our digital devices has a striking similarity with the obsolete items that were relevant almost a decade ago or more. Such graphical objects or elements are called skeuomorphs that mimic a physical item to make it look more familiar and understandable to digital users. A Twitter thread gave a deep insight into the topic which even fascinated the platform’s chief Elon Musk to join the chat.
The Cultural Tutor (as their name on Twitter), began explaining the classic design technique by asking, “Have you ever noticed that the save icon is a floppy disk, even though they became obsolete twenty years ago?" Adding to that, they stated that these are called “skeuomorphs" that are widely used to retain the originality of the design even though they serve no pragmatic purpose in the new system. They gave many examples of skeuomorphism such as phone cameras, icons of batteries, clocks, calls, shopping carts, flashlights, notes, etc. Even Instagram Logos and the interface of Kindle were also specified due to their inherited skeuomorphic features from past objects.
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Have you ever noticed that the save icon is a floppy disk, even though they became obsolete twenty years ago?That’s called a “skeuomorph" – when something new takes on the appearance of what it replaced.
And once you start to look, they’re everywhere… pic.twitter.com/Hdkpr0Jp5w
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) February 6, 2023
Or the various logos for email providers, like that of Gmail, which imitates the appearance of an envelope despite there being no paper or postage involved: pic.twitter.com/unWnI4EmhG— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) February 6, 2023
And so with the rise of the digital age skeuomorphs have become a central – and controversial – element of design.Using a floppy disk to symbolise saving is only one example – there’s also the desktop recycle bin and clock icon, two physical objects with digitised appearances. pic.twitter.com/9xcdvfK66X
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) February 6, 2023
Or the battery icon on phones, which could just be a number – or any other comprehensible symbol, for that matter – but instead imitates physical batteries.Not functionally required, but encouraged by familiarity and expectancy – we understand without needing to be told. pic.twitter.com/4PO6rU1eKj
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) February 6, 2023
And the aforementioned Instagram logo has, similarly, changed from something wholly literal to a cleaner, simpler design.The list of recent design declutters, of course, could go on and on. pic.twitter.com/4XiQx5oC57
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) February 6, 2023
“Most interesting is that many people have never even used the objects imitated by these skeuomorphs. Corded telephones, floppy disks, film cameras, even envelopes – these are things from the past shaping the appearance of the present and the future," read one of their last tweets to describe skeuomorphism. This also excited Elon Musk to pen his opinion about the same as he replied, “I haven’t seen a scroll in ages, but we use that word for computer screens."
I haven’t seen a scroll in ages, but we use that word for computer screens 📜— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2023
With so many real-time examples, it can thus be concluded that skeuomorphs are everywhere. But, they still divide people as some take them as effective models and ‘a natural progression from the physical to the digital’ while others feel that the ‘digital design should be unshackled from past expectations and freer to innovate’.
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