TAKEAWAY: In his blog, Seth Godin reminds us about the importance of design that does not call attention to itself, increases efficiency and, of course, retains beauty. A great model for us to follow.
Seth Godin takes up the subject of design and functionality in his latest blog, and it is definitely a piece to contemplate as we design our own next project. Not that there is anything new when he tells us that “We’re not looking for design we notice… no, it’s design that improves the experience for the public that is the best public design.”
Seth’s piece is primarily about what he calls “public design”, where the design is important, “but the design is not the point.” Public design for Seth includes the shower head you will find in your next hotel bathroom:
Some of the most elegant, clever design ever created by man exists in the dials and wheels in the hotel shower. All of it is worse than a waste—it’s dangerous and time-consuming. Guests don’t want to learn a new way to turn on the shower, they don’t want to burn themselves, they just want the water to come out, at the right temperature, in the right direction, with the right quantity. The first time.
And my favorite (and I agree with him here, too):
Everyone takes a shower without their glasses, and yet the little, indistinguishable bottles in the shower often have 12 point type describing what’s inside. No, I’m not going to wear reading glasses in the shower.
Invisible and functional design
As I conduct workshops and seminars, and when I taught formal university courses, one of my first comments to the students has always been that the design is not there to be admired, but to aid the function for which it is intended. That’s the 3-rule foundation I still follow to this day about designing for media: make it easy to find, make it easy to read and make it easy on the eyes. When these three rules are followed, the rest follows.
Today, as we conceptualize and design for more than one platform, these same rules apply, while we add a fourth: allow the uniqueness of this platform to be part of what drives the design.
Just like nobody comes into a hotel bathroom to study and/or to study the dials and wheels in a shower, magnificently designed as it may be, I have never encountered a reader or user who first analyzes every typographic and/or navigational detail before he starts diving into the information. They come to read, to look at images and to do it quickly, efficiently and in a manner that allows them to get to what they want fast and to allow maximum enjoyment from the experience.
If I have to search for a navigator button before I can go from sports to lifestyle, then regardless of how the design of the navigation looks, it just does not work. To use the shower analogy, move fast to avoid the hot water from hitting you on the shoulder.
Seth Godin concludes his piece with another resounding statement that is worth putting on a sticky note where it is visible:
Great design tells a story. It moves a product from one category to another, increases yield, creates efficiencies and most of all, adds beauty to the interaction.But it doesn’t have to shout. Or confuse
Notice the use of the words “design, efficiencies, beauty and interaction” in the same paragraph.
Follow up on coverage of Thatcher’s death
By the way, our blog yesterday, which has been updated regularly until this morning, showed how various front pages across the world covered the death of Margaret Thatcher, with some headlines expressing love and respect, while others less so.
Take a look at this video from The New York Times which covers how the man in the street in London perceived press coverage of the Iron Lady’s death.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/04/09/world/europe/100000002162432/thatcher-through-bold-british-headlines.html?emc=eta1
Where’s Mario until April 28, 2013?
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