Frank Chimero introduces interesting metaphors and ideas about the Internet, screens, software and web design. Among many topics, I was most intrigued by the idea of skeuomorphs. The word skeuomorphs comes from Greek, skeuo meaning 'container' and morphs meaning 'shape.' "Skeuomorphs are about the shape we choose for the containers we build." says Chimero, explaining how early software needed to embody exactly what it was replacing, but now it has its own shape that does not look like anything in the real world. Moreover, there is a new generation of objects that can only be made in software such as Siri or apps (countless, but one like health.)
This part of the essay was relatable a lot because I have been thinking about the changing meanings of the icons and emojis๐ used in the Internet and software—screens, hereinafter—recently. As Chimero claims, "metaphors are assistive devices for understanding," and the metaphor most commonly used on screens would be icons which concisely abstract the real world and communicate efficiently. However, the meanings of icons change over time too, and it is the flux: the capacity for change that screens have, and so do we. For example, the icon ๐พ is widely communicated as a 'save' function, but the icon lost its original meaning to young generations who do not recognize a floppy disk. โ๏ธ and ๐ are out of touch too. The younger generations will probably learn backwards from the screens that ๐พ means save, until someone comes up with a new 'save' icon that's not obsolete. ๐
Chimero concludes his essay with following statement: "designing for screens is managing that change." Screen-native design is not what screens want, but it's what we want - and what we build. Here I am building what I want in the course, and I am excited๐คฉ !