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I am designing a mobile app about Greek mythology and want to make the app feel authentic.

I was wondering when you try to make an app look old (antique...), what are the do's and don'ts?

How can I make my app look old without resorting to outmoded skeuomorphism in design?

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    This question may be too opinion based for this stack, though I think it could be interesting if you were to rephrase it. Maybe something like: “how can I make my app look old without resorting to skeuomorphism in design?”
    – johnp
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 17:15
  • I agree. Lemme do a quick copy/paste
    – Kevin Amiranoff
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 17:23
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    The opposite of skeuomorphism – "flat design" – sounds quite inappropriate for a "ye olde Style" app. But it might just work! Look at the design of ancient Greek vases for inspiration.
    – Jongware
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 12:43

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Skeumorphism is "outmoded", but that does not mean there aren't situations where it's not appropriate to use it. If you search for apps and games with a mythological theme, you'll see that there's a lot of skeuomorphism going on. But there is plenty of ways to give that feel that don't necessarily involve it:

  • Typography- find a font that evokes the era you want to portray (just be careful not to go too gimmicky)
  • Color scale - Probably a muted color scale if you want to give a weather look, or colors appropriate to ancient greek culture.
  • Texture - You can use subtle textures without going full on skeuo...
  • Imagery- You could have a completely neutral, flat design and still make it feel like ancient greece through images/illustrations alone.
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I think the do and do nots are, do it atractive and usable, and do not make it unatractive and usless.

In my opinion you have it easy.

Greek clasic decoration on vases for example have a timeless style. It is abstract, it is well defined, it is... flat! you can adapt it quite well. Greek vase

Here is the adaptation that Disney made for the Hercules movie

And thinking about this... what would be wrong about using skeuomorphism?

Probably your app main interfase could be Greek reliefs. Greek reliefs They are "flat" in escence. They could be easily adapted into a flatter version.

There is a trend in flat design. A shadowed flat design:

Flat Design with Shadows

Google's Material design is also a shadowed version of the flat design.

There are some examples of texture on flat design using noise.

Maybe it is time we start using a flat textured flat design trend. Actually I will start doing it now! Remember the day a new trend started!

In my opinion we are using Greek design basis all the time.

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