I am a hacker, not a decorator - Design candies are not for me

http://www.pixelonomics.com/design-candies-not-for-me/

by Sparklin • 16 years ago

33 27 16 years ago

pixelonomics.com

gte910h• 16 years ago

Perhaps a bit combative, but yeah, he's got a good point about pretty over functional

Sparklin2• 16 years ago

Ya, I think he was pissed at designers makeing non-functional "pretty" sites

_delirium• 16 years ago

That's not as common as it used to be, is it? I do still run into sites that annoy me, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was during the first wave of "this entire site will be in Flash because that lets us do cool design stuff" web design.

wccrawford• 16 years ago

The car door analogy is faulty. A designer spent a lot of time making that car door look pretty -after- an engineer made it work. It isn't that exact shape just because it works.

kingsidharth5• 16 years ago

Made it work - if you are talking about "Internal mechanics" well yah he did. But that's not all of 'How it works'

The way it is shaped and crafted has a reason - that's design (not beauty). Though reason creates beauty.

dkokelley2• 16 years ago

I disagree. The engineer made it work, by understanding the handle mechanisms, positioning it so that it was reachable and provided enough leverage to move the door. In essence, the engineer 'designed' the door. The author's argument is that design refers to functionality and usability - not only aesthetic appeal. Yes, appealing colors and gradients make the site easier on the eyes, and should be included as a subset of the entire design process.

My interpretation is that design encompasses all UI interactions, and the author feels that too many self-described designers defer to the aesthetics while underplaying other important considerations like usability and intuitiveness, even though the title of designer implies (or should imply) those.

kelnos2• 16 years ago

The engineer made it work, by understanding the handle mechanisms, positioning it so that it was reachable and provided enough leverage to move the door.

Did an engineer design that, or did the equivalent of an interaction designer do it?

zalew2• 16 years ago

Actually that's completely not how cars are designed. Design comes, then come the engineers, then come the clerks, multiply that by a lot of iterations and you got the car which looks far different from the first concept.

A car is a great example how a fantastic design in terms of aesthetics can fail against engineers' (or economics) limitations. A quite recent example: BMW X6's tail lights were sent back to redesign after engineers found out that one 'beauty' line caused Cx (aerodynamics factor) increase. Imagine it happens all the time during the design process which takes years, not days.

egometry• 16 years ago

If you follow delicious hotlist, you'll find some of the unusable-but-pretty designs he mentions... but you'll find more of the pretty-but-usable ones.

The usable get rewarded for their usability by being used.

kingsidharth5• 16 years ago

No true-er words were every spoken before.

Thanks for throwing this perspective man. Now I know I really should stop caring about CSS Galleries and 'make it pretty designer gatherings'

A designer's true reward is 'used'.

Dramatize• 16 years ago

Here are a few pretty and functional designs (in my opinion):

http://www.airbnb.com/ http://www.flickr.com/ http://carbonmade.com/ http://tenderapp.com/ http://new.myfonts.com http://www.made.com/

pyre• 16 years ago

  > http://new.myfonts.com

Way too busy.

d0m• 16 years ago

In my experience, pretty wins over functional. I'm the first to be saddened by that but it's true.

zalew2• 16 years ago

like gmail or google docs are pretty? or youtube player? or google.com?

ThomPete2• 16 years ago

Some people would claim that his own site is over-designed and too pretty. He isn't exactly following the Bauhaus tradition himself.

Pretty can be functional, in fact pretty is functional. Pretty is about expression and exploration. Pretty doesn't solve it all alone but neither does function.

Would you critique a blogger because his posts where way too philosophical and reflective rather than utilitarian?

Would you critique a developer for creating experiments in HTML5 that have no utility?

I would agree with him if HP, Amazon, BP and all the other fortune 500 companies where pretty over functional but they are not.

His argument is based on sites who's purpose is to be explorative and expressive not purely functional.

Design is not about style, but style is a tool the designer can use.

kingsidharth5• 16 years ago

There is a difference between experimenting and intention. Experiments are fine but this is more about what you put in practice.

Anyways, I don't critique their experiment but their intention. If you experiment to make it 'prettier' then it's a fail. Experiment to make it more functional.

Your point "functional is pretty" - is very true. Nothing better than the thing that works.

Sparklin2• 16 years ago

I think it works even if you experiment to make it "prettier" only because its meant to be an experiment.

Pretty might not work if put in actual use, because it is no longer an experiment.

ThomPete2• 16 years ago

With what right do you consider yourself in the position to judge their intention?

Judging intention is probably the least useful form of argument.

Why should it be a fail to experiment with making it prettier? What exactly is wrong with that?

You are falling victim to your own critique. You are judging based on your subjective opinion about some ones intentions. Which is fine. Just don't claim it to be somehow a more rational argument.

wyclif• 16 years ago

In your last paragraph, you need to use the plural form: "followers" and "numbers."

jamesteow2• 16 years ago

"If you experiment to make it 'prettier' then it's a fail. Experiment to make it more functional."

Such a simplistic point of view.

Designers take inspiration from other works. A beautiful piece of work doesn't have to be functional if it's largely just used to express ones creative outputs or to inspire others.

Concept cars and fashion shows often do the same thing: help inspire others and influence upcoming styles.

Saying that their experimental efforts are failures because it's not completely functional (a concept car that can't function, a wardrobe that few souls would wear, a website that has out of the ordinary behavior) is completely missing the point.

jforman• 16 years ago

If the designers you work with prefer "pretty" over "usable," then you should find better designers. I've worked with plenty who do not fit this tunnel-vision visual designer stereotype.

The article is based on a false dichotomy that's part of the unending design v. engineering meta-argument. "Best design is ugly – and it works"? Rather, the best design works - and is pretty.

kingsidharth5• 16 years ago

I guess I messed up with words here.

Pretty v/s Decoration. Rephrasing: "Best design is not decorated – and it works. + It is pretty, because it works."

nayanshah• 16 years ago

Hackers are good at design too, but not in the visual aspect but in the structural and architectural ones. Hackers do strive for simplicity and elegance in the smallest hack. Best example is of Unix. It has this inherent "design" in it, which makes it appealing to all hackers. Add a layout of awesome UI and you have the Mac. All the rich features with a decent packaging.

I am a hacker, not a decorator - Design candies are not for me

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