Have you noticed how good design solves a problem and is usually quite noticeable? Great design, on the other hand, seamlessly integrates into the user experience, becoming almost invisible. 👏🏼🎉
This leads to the paradox of good design, which I contemplated a while ago.
In other words, great design fades into the background, letting the user focus on the purpose or task at hand rather than the design itself.
This could be one of the reasons why there are so many unrecognised good designers.
A good hammer is valuable because it is useful, and not because it is well designed. Wait a minute. You might say, “Isn’t it useful because it was designed that way?” Yes, it was designed to be useful, but it’s valuable not because it was designed, but because it is useful. In other words, it would be valuable even if it wasn’t designed, and yet it was somehow, by accident, useful.
Assuming that the value or meaning of the object is derived from its usefulness and not from the fact that it was designed, there isn’t an immutable link between an object’s original design and its actual value.
But how about the Magic Mouse by Apple or Philippe Starck’s lemon squeezer? Aren’t those objects of design valuable because they were designed, rather than because of their actual usefulness?
Have you ever wondered why some logomarks resonate with customers while others do not?
We all know, that some logos are considered to be inspirational works of art while most of them are average at best. Recently, I wrote a short article on the proposition density in design and how it relates to memorability of famous logos (and other works of art).
In summary: I believe that the success of many well-known logos has a lot to do with the relationship between the elements they are made of and the meaning these elements convey — in other words, the proposition density, which could be defined as the amount of information conveyed in an object or environment per unit element.
“A well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.”
Matthew Frederick
A brilliantly conceived alternative-fuel vehicle will not succeed without the design and implementation of a refuelling infrastructure over a large geographic area. A cleverly resolved construction detail isn’t clever if it doesn’t leave room for a construction worker to manipulate the tools needed to construct it. A bridge pier that’s well engineered won’t be built without also engineering a process to excavate earth and pour concrete in the middle of a river.
Remember, there is often design besides the design and a well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.
“It’s somehow paradoxical that one of the most important characteristics of a good design, its unobtrusiveness, renders it harder to notice or appreciate.”
– Martin
Good design is somehow invisible, which contributes to the common perception of design as a discipline that is somehow unimportant or easy to do. It’s somehow paradoxical that one of the most important characteristics of a good design, its unobtrusiveness, renders it harder to notice or appreciate.
Bad design, on the contrary, because it is more noticeable and easier to spot, gets associated with design as a profession, contributing to the more critical view of design as a useful discipline.
“Feedback, either explicit or implicit, delivered through affective feedback loops, is our most powerful design tool.“ 🤔
Collecting feedback is an essential part of what we do as designers 🧑🏻💻 It is our way of discovering what works for our customers and what doesn’t 👍🏼👎🏼
We should always listen to our customers, but they don’t need to always know that we are listening to them when collecting feedback.
There are different ways how we can collect feedback:
we can observe our customers going about their business (implicit feedback),
or we can ask them specific questions allowing them to express themselves verbally (explicit feedback).
Remember: It is usually the combination of these two methods that yields the best results 👍🏼
