Skeuomorphs

A skeuomorph is a design element of a technology that recalls an earlier generation of the same (or antecedent) technology. The key idea is that some element of the design that used to be necessary is preserved even where it is no longer strictly necessary. A classic example is producing vinyl or formica surfaces so that they resemble wood grain. Sometimes skeuomorphs serve a function, as when they help the user know how to proceed with the new technology. The entire user interface on personal computers is chockablock with recorded sounds and images that depict trash cans, files, cylindrical batteries, floppy discs and fake buttons that make enough intuitive sense that the user can figure out what to do without instruction. The canned shutter noise in a digital camera confirms to the photographer that the picture has been taken. Other times, skeuomorphs are just attractive, or perhaps make a technology more appealing to a user by making it in some way familiar. Some battery powered clocks have motor-powered pendulums that have no relation to the time keeping function.

The Wikipedia article on skeuomorphs offers some more insights.  Here are some additional examples, in no particular order:

  • girls’ pajama bottoms with a fly installed and sewn closed
  • suburban home front porch columns that do no structural work
  • children’s swings with hard square plastic “tire” seats
  • electric camping lanterns built in the style of old fuel burning models
  • buses made to look like trolleys
  • plastic houseplants
  • battery powered flickering tea lights on restaurant tables
  • “water temper” lines on mass produced Japanese-style blades
  • the addition of static or vinyl record hiss and pop added to downtempo music
  • fake cabinet drawers
  • mechanical pencils that look like wooden pencils
  • the recorded engine sound played over the stereo speakers on some late model BMWs
  • digital picture viewers that house a screen in a conventional picture frame
  • cosmetic jacket pockets that are sewn shut or have a pocket square sewn in
  • the arm on a one-armed bandit
  • the dial tone added to the Jitterbug cell phone
  • sepia tone effects on digital cameras
  • blankets printed to look like patchwork quilts
  • e-cigarettes
  • contemporary “period” films shot in black and white, but only if the period is the 19th or early 20th century
  • envelope icons on cell phones to indicate new messages
  • shopping cart icons on e-commerce websites
  • paint brushes with nylon bristles dyed to look like boar’s hair
  • electric or gas fireplaces with ceramic “logs”
  • astroturf
  • light bulbs shaped like candle flames and having flickering filaments
  • “bricks” painted onto stucco
  • leather grained vinyl
  • ornamental buckles on shoes or purses
  • manumatic shift levering on modern automatic car transmissions
  • cosmetic duct work on cars, hood scoops, engine ports, etc.
  • green felt on billiard tables (recalling the original turf!)
  • hubcaps made to look like load bearing wire wheels

A related concept: language that reflects earlier generations of technology:

  • “torch” for a flashlight in Britain
  • “dial” and “ring” for cellphones
  • “ticker” for the report of current stock prices
  • “lead” for pencil graphite

Got other examples not already mentioned in every other list of this kind? Send them to me at bobprice@txstate.edu. Page modified 4/7/14.