“As with many discussions on the web the debate around skeuomorphism and flat design has often missed the point on both sides,” Matthew Johnson writes for anandabits. “Much of the conversation has centered on the purely aesthetic or on localized issues of function such as affordances. However, underlying the shift in style is a change in the media of both web and mobile design.”
“This year at WWDC Apple revelead a significant redesign of iOS. Many designers pundits have pointed to iOS 7 in claiming that Apple is no longer a design leader, that they are now following the design trend established elsewhere,” Johnson writes. “Superficially there is some merit to this argument in that skeuomorphic ornamentation and light effects are largely absent but there are significant differences in both the aesthetics of iOS 7 and the motivation underlying these choices.”
Johnson writes, “We are designing for devices and screens that are much different than those of just a few years ago. This necessitates thinking differently about our designs which obviously results in different choices. It is essential for us as screen designers to understand how and why a new trend in style has emerged in response to a changing medium”
Read more (and don’t skip the footnotes) in the full article – recommended – here.