> Minimalism and skeumorphism are not mutually exclusive. > Skeumorphisms are adopted on UIs, a priori, to give hints about the function and ease the interacti

> Minimalism and skeumorphism are not mutually exclusive. > Skeumorphisms are adopted on UIs, a priori, to give hints about the function and ease the interaction with new users. It's a metaphor to reuse prior knowledge of how things work in the real world. Indeed. It gives hints and makes elements stand out. Take the Nest presentation from the examples in the original post—it uses realistically looking elements to make them more noticeable in contrast to ‘flat’ surroundings. This helps highlight the design of the Nest thing and link to the store, for example.