Louie Mantia on overuse of the term “skeuomorphism” and how it differs from realism:
Making standard UI elements look beautiful shouldn’t be condemned, and it seems that Apple has done a wonderful job in attracting millions of people to use iOS because of these choices. Other apps might be able to get away without using textures and gradients, and that’s fine too. Visual and UI designers should just do the right thing for their users, whatever that means.
I agree with Mantia. Many of Apple’s apps are made great by textures, while games like Letterpress look awesome with flat design.