Flat Design Versus Skeuomorphism: What You Need To Know
Trends in graphic design are a lot like clothing trends; they constantly are in and out of style. Today’s chiquè is tomorrow’s retro. An example of the ebb and flow in graphic design is the debate on skeuomorphic design versus flat design. I’m sure you’re scratching your head attempting to figure out what skeuomorphic design means. Skeuomorphic design is based on the concept of creating user interface elements that closely resemble their real-world counterparts. You may have seen a great example of this on the older iPhones. The Notes app looked like a real notebook with paper.
By observing the above image, you’ll notice that the icons on the home screen share strong similarities to their worldly objects. This is especially true for the Phone app, Calendar app, Camera app, YouTube app, Weather app and Notes app. While looking at those app icons you can clearly see what those apps represent. Even if you’re unsure what the apps are called or what functionality they perform, it’s very clear what those icons represent.
As time progressed, the design language and trends started moving towards a different direction. Flat design focuses more on clean lines and simple figures. With flat design, your aim is to make the interface elements clutter-free and easy to use. Many of the current smartphones and websites use a version of a flat design. You’ll find that it’s easy to identify what certain buttons do, but the goal of designing a digital object to look exactly like the real world version is essentially over.
The flat design style is becoming more and more prevalent. Huge companies such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook have all implemented their individual takes on flat design. Microsoft uses the tile best system that debuted with the release of the Windows 8 operating system.
So you might be thinking, “If all these companies are transitioning to flat design, is there a place for skeuomorphic design?” The short answer is yes. There is a place for skeuomorphic design. To explore this question in more depth, let’s take a look at what makes the skeuomorphic design so popular.
One of the best features of the skeuomorphic design is the ease of identifying various elements of the interface. In skeuomorphic design, buttons look very similar to the real world objects. This makes it very easy to understand what a virtual button does. In contrast, the buttons used in flat design are more like labels. There aren’t always interface elements that resemble the real world elements. This isn’t a problem if you’ve learned to navigate a website or application, but it can be extremely frustrating for users of a recently redesigned application. Having a familiar interface can be especially important for users that might be new to your application or new to technology in general.
It doesn’t appear that skeuomorphic design will make a triumphant return, but there is room for a hybrid type of design. You could combine the best aspects of both design styles. On the side of skeuomorphic design, you can take ease of access and identifying elements. On the flat design side of things, you can take the clean and concise look and feel. There is no one-size-fits-all way of designing applications and websites, but there are some common sense rules that we can follow to improve the overall user experience. For example, instead of using basic button labels we could use more descriptive icons. Also, we could work to create more contrast in our designs so that is it easier to locate what you’re looking for while navigating through the interface. Light grey text on a white background might look hip and modern, but it doesn’t lead to a great end-user experience.
Design trends are subjective. There are some that you will love and some that you will hate. No matter your feelings towards a design style it is important to understand the differences of each style of design and what made that design style so popular. There are so many lessons that we can learn from both good and bad design trends. We can also use design trends to help cultivate our individual design styles. Every design trend was invented by someone. Who knows, you might be responsible for the next big wave in graphic design styles and trends.
