Skeuomorphic design is where you take a real life object and replicate it in a virtual / digital environment to signify to the user the intended use or purpose.
But is it still relevant in a digital world?

Its all about research to find the best solution to the problems, skeuomorphic design or not, under every design is a whole depth of research to justify the designs (or at least thats how it should be.)

So like you were talking about earlier in your blog on content, it's all about the context - is it relevant in this particular case, does it add to the overall design / aesthetics?

Exactly. When it comes to ecommerce design for example, clean and clear with a focus on usability are key for conversions, but if you are selling in a particular type of nichè like cupcakes, its great to draw from elements of the product to reenforce the website and engage visually also.

Mmmm... cupcakes :)
What about where eCommerce and niche products meet tho (verydeliciouscheesecakes.co.uk

Well this is an example of some of my older work which pulls design elements from a nichè market & works in an ecommerce environment. exactly along the lines of your above.

sugarloafeastbourne.co.uk
bareandbeautiful.co.uk
lovethatbag.co.uk

Yep.
I found quite quickly that when you start playing around with the visual aesthetics of a site and push the boat out into non-obvious territory, you really have to rely on other conventions (eg search and basket top right, logo top left, standard navigation structures) to give the user definite things they can grab hold of easily so as to not alienate and confuse them.

I come at this from a background in archaeology which is where the term skeuomorphism originates. I find it can provide a good visual metaphor but is very easily over-done (as latest iOS UI has shown).

The thing to remember from archaeology contexts is that skeuomorphism 1) usually occurs at times of great social stress, and 2) at times when people struggle with forms of material expression and identity. It is ultimately a form of mimicry that harks back to earlier traditions (eg pottery designed to mimic woven basketry) or looks towards new traditions (eg when a flint axe is made to look like its copper equivalent).

For me then skueomorphism is often used as a quick fix - used subtly it can be powerful but is so very easily abused.

Seems no one minded it before they knew its name was a nice big, smart-sounding word.

Is it a touch patronising? Maybe, but it's hardly offensive. Is it kitsch and cliché? Of course, but Apple's examples are almost certainly tongue-in-cheek.

Should web/software designs go out of their way to avoid anything from the real world? I don't think so – a bit of woodgrain or leather or canvas texture adds personality that's really hard to convey on-screen otherwise.

@cole007 Fascinating!
I have wondered if the love for vintage and retro is a response to rapidly changing times and people grasping at familiar and more simple things for stability.

@richard - in the past when we've worked with fine artists, they take minimalism to such an extreme as to be pushing poor design - it's a fine line at what point the need to appear non-corporate becomes unusable - this presumably is the flip side to an over reliance on decorative textures.

Personally I dont have a massive problem with Apple's use, but I can understand the arguments against it (as summarised in the original blog post (moogal.me).

This thread is actually a pre-cursor to the question "Is Responsive Web Design leading to restrained, dull and bland sites?"
(which I think can have it's own branch :)

To me skeumorphism is about affordance in function. How do you use a web page, app, telephone, radio. We have taken time learning the things around us. Dont make me learn it again.

Volume controls have changed from dials to sliders. Do I want to redesign a volume control every time I design something?

Similarly links on a web page, how far from changing their colour and underlining can I go gefore people stop identifying them as links and someone who is editing the content feels the need to write "click here" just to make sure it is clear. (are the words "click here" now verbal skueomorphism?)

@david yes - @malarkey said similar (twitter.com) the other day about "click here" and "touch here" being inappropriate commands in the respective smartphone and desktop environments and that "press" here meets somewhere in the middle...
...but here we're seeing an evolution of language and its understanding to adapt to changing technology, which does of course bring it back to what skeuomorpism is looking to achieve.
All the kore so reinforced in @cole007's comments relating to archeology and how society handles change.

adding to @cole007 and @3ur0g33k entries > not all audiences reached the same stage of understanding the technology.

the apple case i see as a marketing strategy: for years now they've been trying (and succeeding) to broader their reach and penetration. skeuomorphic design was only one of tools to a bigger plan.

even if you take marketing aside, as already pointed, there is still a certain need of skeuomorphic design.

but as the mass market evolves, a new convention will take place. the insatisfaction of many (& the education of the majority) is the start.

so yes: i do think the skeuomorphic design will still be around for a while, more and more as a 'educational tool' but less and less as a direction of what the future looks like.

Much of the skeuomophism I see is what I would call emotional skeuomophism. That moment when you see something and your pupils dilate, your heart beats faster and you fall in love just because it evokes the memories of something you have loved before.

Is it this Pavlovian reaction that most designers dislike? Does it give the feeling of a cheap trick to get someone to use something even though the functional design may be flawed?

not sure it should be considered a cheap trick. and should not be disliked. but it should yes be questioned: is that the best way?

what i see is a medium that is still missing some of it's own conventions, it's own visual language.

as said, before were dials and now we have sliders. what i see happening is a search for more sliders (or the future of). a search for functions, actions & a style that will do make so much sense on the medium that, will naturally be accepted and adopted.

i'm sure skeuomophism is, at the moment, the best way to get some points across. but as our perception of the technology around us improves, the visual language of the medium should evolve too.

... and should always be making our pupils dilate.

I agree with you here Luciano - emotional connection to a site is brilliant - as far as I'm concerned, it isn't a weakness or a "cheap trick" as it's actually very difficult to recreate authentic and realistic skeuomorphic design assets.

If you can do it in such a way as to create that Pavlovian reaction on a website (whether its by skeuomorphic design or brilliant photography), I think we've done our jobs well.

There may be times where the service / product doesn't support a skeuomorphic approach, but where it does, it can be highly effective at communicating to the user.

Where I suspect it's come under fire is where it's not actually appropriate and/or it's not done very well as its strength lies in its authenticity.

sorry @moogaloo - was away for a few days.

and yes: authenticity seems the right take to me too. here is something else i've just read on this topic: bit.ly (ignore the selling bit).

;)

From the mouth of a young experience designer, no. Skeuomorphic design isn't a recent "fad" or "trend". Though I agree that bad skeuomorphic design is more plentiful than ever, skeuomorphism is a design technique. In the same way that just because pop music sounds bad it doesn't mean music sounds bad, the same can be applied to design: just because people aren't good at skeuomorphism doesn't mean it's bad.