#skeumorphic

[imfurple]

👀

[pmranva]

[rikunj-pethani]

Skeumorphic

[five0203]

애플, 그리고 스큐모픽(Skeumorphic)

오늘은 2013년 6월 10일, 애플의 개발자 행사인 WWDC가 시작하는 날입니다. 늦어도 WWDC 시작전에는 반드시 이 내용을 글로 남기자고 제 자신에게 약속했던 만큼 아무래도 오늘은 날밤을 지새워야 할 듯 싶습니다.

사실 이 글을 쓰기로 결심한 것은 지난 4월 초 어느 한 기사를 본 뒤였습니다.

‘초등학생들은 모르는 저장하기 아이콘’

한때 SNS를 통해 화제가 되기도 했던 내용이라 아마 보셨던 분들도 있으리라 생각됩니다. 재미있는 내용의 기사입니다. 어린학생들이 플로피 디스크를 몰라 저장이라는 이미지를 연상시키지 못 한다니 말이죠. 그런데 사실 이것은, 최근 디자인계에서 가장 주목 받고 있는 내용과도 연관이 되어있습니다. 다름 아닌 애플의 향후 ‘디자인론’에 대한 이야기입니다.

2012년 말, 애플의 부사장이었던 스콧 포스톨이 회사를 떠난다는 애플의 공식 발표가 있었습니다. 애플에서만 15년동안 몸을 담았던 스콧 포스톨은 잡스의 건강이 악화된 이후 한때 유력한 후계자로 거론되었을 정도로 사내에 강력한 영향력을 가지고 있었던 인물 이였습니다. 그런 그가 홀연히 공식적인 이유 없이 자리에서 물러났습니다. 그러나 여러 자료들을 살펴보면 어느 정도 그 이유를 짐작 할 수 있습니다.

월스트리트 저널은 포스톨이 애플 내 다른 경영진들과 갈등이 있었다고 언급하였으며, 패스트 컴퍼니는 특히 현 애플의 디자인 실세인 조나단 아이브와 스콧 포스톨간의 디자인에 대한 의견차가 있었던 점을 중점적으로 보도하였습니다. 그리고 그 디자인에 대한 의견차는 다름아닌 스큐모픽 디자인에 대한 것이라는 내용이었습니다. 어디까지나 언론의 추측일 뿐이지만, 분명한 것은 스콧 포스톨은 스큐모픽 디자인을 옹호하였고, 그것은 그가 회사를 떠나는 데에 있어서 중요한 영향을 끼쳤다는 사실입니다.

대체 스큐모픽 디자인이 무엇이길래 한 사람을 15년동안 몸 담았던 회사와 갈라서게 만들었을까요.

스큐모픽은 사실 앞에서 언급하였던 저장 버튼과도 관련이 있습니다.

스큐모픽 디자인이란 실제로 존재하고 있는 물체의 특징을 소프트웨어 디자인에 응용하는 형태의 ‘디자인론’을 말합니다. 그 예로는 애플의 iCal 이나, 뉴스 스탠드 앱이 대표적이라 할 수 있습니다.현재의 iOS의 UI 디자인을 유심히 살펴보면 알 수 있듯이, 기존 애플의 소프트웨어 디자인은 좀 더 사실적이고 시각적인 디자인을 추구한 스큐모픽 디자인의 영향력을 많이 받았다고 할 수 있는데요. 초기 스큐모픽 디자인의 중심에는 스티브 잡스가 있었던만큼, NeXT 시절부터 스티브 잡스와 함께했던 스캇 포스톨이 사실적인 표현을 강조했던것은 어떻게보면 당연한것일지도 모릅니다.

그에 반해 현재 애플의 부사장을 맡고 있는 조나단 아이브는 오래전부터 미니멀한 디자인을 통해 형태를 단순화시키고자 하였습니다. 두사람이 완전히 서로 다른 방향을 추구했던만큼, 한 때 애플의 디자인 실에서는 서로가 작업하는 UI의 느낌만 봐도 누가 프로젝트를 지휘했는지 알수 있었다고 하는군요.

스콧 포스톨이 회사를 떠난 이후 많은 기사와 동영상들이 앞으로의 iOS 디자인을 예상하며, 여러 가지 시안들을 내놓았습니다. 수많은 컨셉 시안들이 있었지만 그 중 단연 화제가 되었던 동영상이 하나 있는데요.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESivYZXYqYE&feature=youtu.be

영상에서 보시다시피 둥글고 입체감 있던 기존의 형태들이, 평평하고 단순하게 변화 된 것을 느낄 수 있습니다.

위의 컨셉 영상이 화제가 되었던 이유는 물론 디자인이 뛰어났기 때문도 있지만, 현재까지의 정황과 루머들을 살펴 보았을 때, 많은 사람들의 추측에 가장 근접한 느낌을 풍겼기 때문이 아닐까 싶습니다. 아래 기사들은 가장 최근에 화제가 된 내용인데요. 기존의 규칙들을 아무도 몰래 조금씩 바꿔나가고 있는 애플의 WWDC 발표가 더욱더 궁금해지게 되는 이유입니다.

Apple’s developer portal begins displaying square app icons days before iOS 7 unveiling

애플’ios7’발표 눈앞..정사각형 아이콘이 포털에

스큐모픽 디자인은 아날로그적 사용감을 그대로 적용하여 제품에 대한 친밀도를 높일 수 있다는 강점을 가지고 있습니다. 그러나 시대가 흐름에 따라, 그것이 불가한 영역이 점차 두드러지고 있습니다. 저장버튼을 아무리 플로피 디스크와 비슷하게 그린다 한들 그것을 초등학생들이 이해하지 못하는 것처럼 말이죠.

사실 인터페이스 디자인에 있어서 정답은 없다고 생각합니다. 무엇이 좋다 나쁘다 라기보다는 얼마나 적절하게 사용되었으며 얼마나 사용자의 경험을 나아지게 만들었느냐가 가장 중요할 것입니다. 

오랜 기간 동안 애플은 스큐어모피즘의 선두에 서 있어왔습니다. 그러나 앞으로 몇 시간 후, 그 선두의 방향이 조금은 달라질 수 있지 않을까라는 상상을 해보며 부족한 글을 마칩니다 

 / 2013.06.10

  참고

‘디자인 회사’ 애플, 디자인 갈등 심각

애플 2인자, 왜 갑자기 떠났을까?

스큐어모피즘(Skeuomorphism)이란

스큐어모피즘: 만져지는 UI로의 변화 과정

두 디자인 대륙의 충돌 – 메타포냐 메트로냐?

애플을 떠나는 스캇 포스톨을 보며 든 생각

Apple designers reportedly divided over use of skeuomorphic UIs- 

Skeuomorphic design (or, one reason we can be thankful Scott Forstall is gone)

The Real Problem With Apple: Skeuomorphism In iOS

The future of Apple UI

Will Apple’s Tacky Software-Design Philosophy Cause A Revolt?

A Former iPhone UI Designer Defends Apple’s Fake-Leather Design Philosophy

[theantisofa]

Telling better stories with data

Telling better stories with data

Sometimes it feels like we live in the age of the infographic. One hundred years from now, when cyber historians look back through the cloud, they will judge us by our addiction to creating colourful image and typography based layouts.

I hope it’s just a phase that we’ll grow out of. But before I lay in with the criticism, they have a few decent features.

Another information sharing tool. Before…

View On WordPress

[prounovis]

Braun UI by Adrien Olczak

[decultured]

On Skeuomorphic Design - 3 Panel Soul

I so hate this trend...

[gtone4zero]

The Renaissance Born in a Playground

A recent post on Daring Fireball, the popular website of Apple enthusiast John Gruber, made me think. Gruber sees the ubiquitous iPhone Twitter client as a "UI Playground". A place of adventure where, due to the simple nature of Twitter and well known feature set, developers can get creative and really think about how they can make a difference. Stamp their mark. Show off their chops. 

I think it goes further than this. Much further.

In fact, iOS itself is the playground. This might fly in the face of the so called anti-skeumorphic brigade, the self proclaimed expert designers mired in yesterday's desktop* thoughts of a standard computer system user interface. The thought pattern is that smartphones & tablets are computers. Computers run programs. Ergo, once the user (eventually) understands the way to use this powerful computer then everything falls into place.

These folk believe that because we are in fact interacting with a computer system everything on it should feel like a computer system. There is a single divine way in which mere humans must interact with these marvels of technology. This is no place for emotion. It must be standardised else people may forget they are using this sophisticated piece of magnificence.

I think there is a problem with this thought process. A big problem. It comes from a desktop mentality where the world is the computer. Within this world, applications co-exist side by side in a multi windowed environment driven by strict relatively inflexible instruments such as a keyboard and mouse. 

Mobile however requires a different way of thinking. Step one to redemption is to get up from the desk. Then look at the world and ask if everything is driven with a common world interaction interface? No. You see, mobile devices aren't just used at a desk. They are carried into the world that exists away from a desk. They are carried into your life. You don't interact with the mobile device, it becomes a part of you. 

Perhaps these type of people would have a common colour scheme on everything around us. How dare a notepad be anything other than white. Why does that calendar have a photo on it? Why is that lounge suite not grey velour? Why does your Aston Martin have hand stitched leather? 

It is very much a case of web designers and desktop specialists trying to dictate their experiences on mobile. Having spent the past 19 years working with mobile and also having great success in the pre iPhone era, I was constantly surrounded by news of other failed mobile projects, I can tell you that a key reason for failure was the use of desktop principles and design. One size fits all might work at a desk, but not so well away from one.

So, back to iOS.

The beauty of iOS devices is that the device becomes the app. The device fades into the background and morphs into a new gadget. It is the ultimate creative canvas. Developers can forget about the device. They create a brilliant new electronic 'thing' that can be magically delivered into the hands of people everywhere. They aren't creating computer programs. They are creating wondrous new life gadgets.

Ever wondered why the most creative developers are so enamoured with iOS? It's because they aren't constrained. It is their playground and nothing gets in the way of the creative flow. 

Compare, for example to Windows Phone. Guess what? It's a beautiful slick computer user interface. In one way, that is a great strength. However, it is also possibly the biggest weakness. It is mired in yesterday's idea of the computer system interface. With Windows Phone, there is no creative canvas. This isn't a playground. It is a colour by numbers and join the dots book. It is no place to create works of art of your own. This is about as appealing to the creative developer as Playstation Singstar to an indy rock band.

Android has been quite a success. However, you need to consider what type of success. There's two distinct camps at either end of the technology appreciation society. The 'budget Smartphone' buyer that believes they are purchasing something like an iPhone but for much less money. They aren't exactly sure what an iPhone does, but they have a feeling that they need something like one. These are today's budget feature phone buyers. At the polar opposite is the tinkerer. These people are more interested in viewing their clock speed in a floating widget than viewing a Swiss Railway clock. They would rather monitor CPU temperature than outdoor temperature. To them, the little computer is the main act. They don't want it to morph away. It is everything. There's nothing wrong with this per se, but it's not for everyone. 

So, for Android, from a creative playground perspective, the audience isn't as clear cut. Add to this, the enormous spectrum of devices and form factors, and design is either forced to lowest common denominator or, a duplication of work in order to ensure spectrum compatibility. These are two of the things that creative designers hate. Limitation or duplication. 

Of course, if a blockbuster iPhone application really takes off, it will likely generate enough interest from users of other platforms to provide the financial incentive for a port. The creative designers have little interest in doing this, because, quite frankly it is as boring as batshit. They've already run around in their perfect playground doing this, and want to do something challenging and new. This has given rise to specialist firms that just do ports. It's drudge work, but currently very lucrative indeed. It's no playground though. 

All of the above also applies to the tablet market. Perhaps more so. This however is really the subject of another post. Let's just say that having worked extensively with tablets in the 90s, I know why they never took off. Microsoft and Android are currently frantically rolling out "innovations" that were a lot of the reasons tablets failed in the past. Sometimes history can be your friend, but I guess you had to be there.

So there you have it. We are in a period of wonderful innovation in mobile application software. I will argue that the reason for this is iOS. Apple created a compelling playground for creative designers. A rich OS that doesn't get in the way. Devices that have both uniformity, immense audience and unparalleled reliability. A development platform that is rich and, from a UI perspective quite remarkable. A distribution mechanism that could only previously be dreamt about. This all adds up to something more than the sum of its parts. It liberates creative developers and lets them simply create. 

A renaissance born in a playground.

* Desktop refers to WIMP desktop based operating systems which run on both desktop and notebook computers.