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| |  "Re(4):Dog Ending:" , posted Thu 23 Apr 06:19  
quote:
This reminds me of an interesting word that a friend has to remind me of every few months or so (I’ve forgotten again), where an analogue look is reproduced in digital as some kind of totem or aesthetic, like how iphone interfaces used to have "wooden" panels and backgrounds...woah, and like Cafe frontpage for that matter!
I'm hoping the next generation of consoles has a simulated wood grain similar to the Atari 2600. That look is coming back, honest!
Speaking of textures, I've always been impressed that the MMCafe can have a wood/green aesthetic that doesn't invoke the feel of a Family Truckster. It's a delicate balancing act.
I know exactly what word you are thinking of, which is skeumorphism. It sort of became a caricature of itself as time went on, and the design went from something that was inviting by relating to familiar physical things to something that was garish, ugly, and used the limited screen space poorly. However, I think that should be distinguished from UI elements which are not necessarily meant to be manipulated directly by the user and instead provide interest/aesthetic value in their presentation. For instance, the HP numbers in Earthbound rolling to their values is amusing and exciting, or RPGs which try to present things as being made of glass and wood so that they don't feel quite so abstract.
Personally, I think that as a design style for computer programs, it often doesn't feel very punk because it doesn't come across as amateurish enough: the most popular ones of these were Apple software from a decade ago. There are some exceptions, though, such as the various things in Grasshopper Manufacture games.
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