What does stitched leather have to do with finding my friends?

To interact with this page you must login. Signup

ask a person to answer this question Ask to answer

Apple's new Find My Friends app in iOS 5 has a stitched leather interface, following the skeuomorphic trend in their iPad and Lion interfaces. I can understand why an app like Calendar (on iPad) has a stitched leather look; they want it look more like a real paper calendar in leather binding. There's no physical metaphor for "finding my friends," but Apple still choose the stitched leather look.

apple iphone find my friends app

This question was originally asked by Blake Engel on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/urbanhiker/status/121281172910247936

iphone

apple

skeuomorphism

technology

understand

tynamite

It has nothing to do with the actions of finding your friends, but it has everything to do with the learning curve you have using the product. By mapping leather to a leather diary, it lets people know how to use the application, as that leather image gives them an idea of how the application works. Let's not forget that Apple's slogan is It just works, and the leather is just another way of showing users how it just works.

It looks like you need to learn about affordances like I have. Apple knows what they're doing and it's very clever.