skeuomorphism

Apple has today been granted a patent for a graphical display concept it calls virtual paper, and two things struck me about it – one about its origins, the other about what it may tell us about future Apple design language.

The patent is for a visual representation of paper in three-dimensional form, which is, of course, the type of user interface most applicable to the upcoming Apple mixed-reality headset …

One of the biggest shake-ups we’ve seen in the iOS user-interface was the replacement of skeuomorphism – making things look like real-life objects – with the complete opposite in iOS 7. Where once we had realistic looking 3D representations, we instead got a ‘flat’ UI which goes out of its way to remain 2D.

While some feel that skeuomorphism looks old-fashioned these days, the approach still has its fans even now – and Apple has shown signs of beginning to adopt a new take on the look using something called anisotropism …

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