Is skeuomorphic design better for the older crowd?

Hi /r/design,

First off, looking at the community rules it seems like this an appropriate post for this subreddit. If not, apologies, where should I post instead?

My question is related to skeumorphic design.

I am working on a small app that basically clones the functionality of a specialty device used in the real world. If anyone ever downloads my app, it will most likely be men between the ages of 30 and 60.

Normally, I wouldn't even consider doing a skeumorphic design but in this case I know my users will most likely be "older". I'm curious if there is any data suggesting whether or not skeumorphic designs work better with my target age group? I haven't been able to find anything online. All I know is that skeumorphic design is OUT.

But in this case maybe it is IN? The device I am cloning in my app is pretty recognizable by the people who use it. Having a screenshot in my App listing with a skeumorphic design will immediately communicate what the app does.

Given that these users will also be "less tech savvy", I am starting to think it would be good to take the skeumorph design approach.

When making these sort of decisions I usually make a pros/cons list. Here it is...

Pros:

1. immediately recognizable by target users

Cons:

1. Less design flexibility. For example, there are many auxiliary functions that are not provided by the device I am recreating. If I got users and they were requesting these auxiliary functions I would be inclined to add them. If and when I add these features I will have to branch off of the "known" design of the object I am digitally recreating.

2. It will be difficult to insure that the app looks correct on screens of varying size (I am targeting Android)

3. Supporting both portrait and landscape views will be difficult as the device in question is very much a "portrait" style device.

As you can see the cons list is much longer. That being said, if skeumorphic design does a better job of communicating the intention of the app I would be able to work with all the cons.

So /r/design, I am wondering: what is your opinion on this? Should I keep things "flat and material" or go with a 90s-esque skeumorphic design?

I can also imagine some sort of compromise where I use a "flatish" design but try to make it look "inspired" by the original device. I'm not sure exactly how I would do that but it may be the best option. Are there any good examples of this sort of approach?

I would love to hear your opinions and if anyone knows of user research on this topic I would love to see it!

Thanks!

Great design resource

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