An excerpt from http://www.sitepoint.com/can-boba-fett-pirates-teach-us-ui-design/, by @alexmwalker.
While the original Star Wars trilogy of films were revolutionary in many ways, the simple decision to portray a sci-fi universe that showed wear and tear was a surprisingly big deal at the time.
Until then ‘space’ in movies had been all shiny chrome UFO saucers and swishy kubrick-esque ship interiors. George Lucas’ universe had more than its share of slime and gunk, and scratches, dents and dings. It felt more familiar than it probably should have.
In our real world, we often use those same wear patterns to guide us.
For instance, arrive at a big city train station, airport or church for the first time and, chances are, you’ll be able to find your way outside by just following the shiny path scuffed into the floor by millions of feet.
Who needs signage?
Or look at an old elevator panel to see where people have been going most often.
Even in a cafe or waiting room, you can probably pick today’s newspaper from the pile simply by the crispness of the paper. We instinctively know well before seeing the printed date.
By comparison, the web is a conspicuously clean place. Millions of people might pass through Google every hour without leaving a single scuff or fingermark. It’s super clean and clinical but even though we may have been there thousands of times, there’s no obvious evidence of our past journeys.
Is it possible to give users useful cues about the state of a system without adding extra text clutter to our designs?