Skeuomorphism

In skeuomorphism you design concepts to resemble real world objects. People associate your designed concept with the real-world object and act as they would towards the object.

We do this a lot in online communities too.

We name ‘off-topic’ areas of the site the water cooler, the cafe, and the break room. There is nothing wrong with this, it can form useful associations.

Skeuomorphism can be useful if we use it well*. The problem it isn’t.

Is the ‘water cooler’ (colleagues spending a few minutes in a corporate environment gossiping about their boss) really the best real-world object we can think of to stimulate the type of behavior we want? We can do better.

Think of the places where you have the most fun, exciting, and engaging interactions (don’t default to a pub/bar). Name this part of the community after that area.

This works for the places where you want people to share their very best ideas, give each other deep emotional support, and put ideas into practice. Think of the real-life contexts where this best happens and name your objects after these.

*the opposite, perhaps, is ‘flat design’ where the object has no meaning. You make up a word or symbol and use it

Comments

  1. Mark Schwanke says:

    Yeah! @richard_millington created a blog post based on my question on the community!

  2. Nick Emmett says:

    I definitely where you’re coming from - however, the Water Cooler association works for a lot of people because when you have a geographically dispersed workforce it gives people the opportunity to catch up on non-work related topics that people in the same office might often catch up on whilst getting water, or coffee from a machine. I agree that it doesn’t sound particularly inspiring but in context I don’t think it’s too bad.

    Good topic though and GREAT word!

  3. Mark Schwanke says:

    @ tech companies you’re usually in the snack room or the game room

Make your own comment on this post at FeverBee Experts

Avatar for richard_millington Avatar for Nick_Emmett Avatar for MarkSchwanke

©2023 FeverBee Limited, Apartment 2410, 251 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 6FN England FEVERBEE

We’d like you to join us.

We’re a group of community professionals who push each other to the cutting edge of our work. Every day we share our experiences, highlight new expertise, and push one another to become the best community builders we can be.

The day you join, you’ll get access to 1000+ practical tips, dozens of resources, and unlimited access to the top experts in our space. You’ll also get to see how we go about building a community amongst our own audience.

It takes just 30 seconds and doesn’t cost a thing.

CLICK HERE AND JOIN FEVERBEE

Level Price  
ALL COURSES $750.00 per Month.
Select
Community Development Program $1,100.00 per Month.
Select
Director of Community $8,770.00 per Month.
Select
Free Trial - Accelerator Program Free.
Select
Community Accelerator (founding members) [annually] $250.00 per Year.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [monthly] $45.00 per Month.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [annually] $450.00 per Year.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [monthly] $750.00 per Month.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [annually] $7,600.00 per Year.
Select