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Skeu the evolution: skeuomorphs, style, and the material of tangible interactions

Published: 16 February 2014 Publication History

Abstract

We examine skeuomorphs - holdovers from previous functional material requirements - as they pertain to the design of tangible interactions. We offer several definitions of skeuomorphs from different disciplines, seeking to distinguish among different types and uses to explore skeuomorphs' potential value for designing tangible user interfaces. Through critical analysis of several skeuomorphic designs, both GUI and TUI, we show that skeuomorphs are far from being limited to mere sensual metaphors; some types of interaction can be characterized as skeuomorphic. Finally, we offer three specific ways that skeuomorphic evolution can be present in design, with diverse implications for materiality, user experience, and style.

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  • (2021)StringTouch - From String Instruments towards new Interface MorphologiesProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3440628(1-10)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021
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cover image ACM Conferences
TEI '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction
February 2014
401 pages
ISBN:9781450326353
DOI:10.1145/2540930
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 16 February 2014

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Author Tags

  1. materiality
  2. medium specificity
  3. skeuomorphs
  4. tangible interactions

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TEI '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 46 of 172 submissions, 27%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Skeuomorphic or flat? The effects of icon style on visual search and recognition performanceDisplays10.1016/j.displa.2024.102813(102813)Online publication date: Aug-2024
  • (2022)Much Realistic, Such Wow! A Systematic Literature Review of Realism in Digital GamesProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501875(1-21)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
  • (2021)StringTouch - From String Instruments towards new Interface MorphologiesProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3440628(1-10)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021
  • (2019)Can Skeuomorphic Design Provide a Better Online Banking User Experience for Older Adults?Multimodal Technologies and Interaction10.3390/mti30300633:3(63)Online publication date: 17-Sep-2019
  • (2019)Design tensionsProceedings of the 37th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication10.1145/3328020.3353944(1-10)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2019
  • (2019)Vaping like a chimney; skeuomorphic assemblages and post-smoking geographiesSocial & Cultural Geography10.1080/14649365.2019.1593491(1-27)Online publication date: 18-Mar-2019
  • (2018)A Comparative Study of Skeuomorphic and Flat Design from a UX PerspectiveMultimodal Technologies and Interaction10.3390/mti20200312:2(31)Online publication date: 4-Jun-2018
  • (2018)Designing Metaphor-Based Ambient Tangible Artifacts to Support Workspace Awarenessi-com10.1515/icom-2018-002417:3(219-235)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2018
  • (2018)Skeuomorph Versus Flat Design: User Experience and Age-Related PreferencesDesign, User Experience, and Usability: Designing Interactions10.1007/978-3-319-91803-7_40(527-542)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2018
  • (2015)Material and Meaning in Tangible InteractionsProceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/2677199.2691609(453-456)Online publication date: 15-Jan-2015
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