The pendulum of design always has swung between fits of over-design to stark minimalism throughout modern history (the last 300 years or so).<p>There's a happy place to be found between skuemorphic and flat. Flat is hitting the reset button. If everything were flat, the internet would not be better for it.<p>Skuemorphic is best used to communicate complex ideas that are aided by visual illustration. Skuemorphic's main problem using analogies that don't need defining. Apple's iOS Podcast app used a reel-to-reel animation. For anyone under 40, this is silly. It neither communicates interaction more effectively nor does it enhance comprehension. However, the application Propellerhead's Reason, had a great deal of success using skeumorphic design to communicate FX chains, allowing users to set up device racks and drag and drop the wiring to set up complex FX chains. Flattening this probably would have diluted the analogy. Where Skuemorphism went bad was when we started using it as decoration like leather address books.<p>The best parts of "Flat" aren't the graphical elements but the close attention to functionality and interaction.