While much of the coverage on Org changes at Apple has focused on collaboration in the Executive ranks, some of the more interesting has focused on the design battle. Ive now leads the lot and IMHO that is a good thing.

I’ve never got the bookshelf metaphor in Newstand or iBooks. Or the faux leather in iCal. This design approach is, get this, called skeuomorphism. Fast Company said it well:

“It’s visual masturbation,” says one former senior UI designer at Apple who worked closely with Steve Jobs. “It’s like the designers are flexing their muscles to show you how good of a visual rendering they can do of a physical object. Who cares?”

It begs the question, should the wallet be replicated on the phone as a wallet? Or is the literal interpretation just confusing?

“I’ve come to absolutely dislike this trend in user interface toward skeuomorphism,” says designer Yves Béhar, the founder of fuseproject, which is best known for designing the Jawbone and original One Laptop Per Child PC. “Using reality as a visual metaphor for the user interface rather than make the UI function on its own terms is something that has irked me for quite a while.”

I’m with Behar, it’s time for the UI to function on its own terms. Put the wallets away.