

Design in tech is stupid - graeham
http://jeremykooyman.com/design-in-tech-is-stupid/

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coldtea
> _So unless you’ve had your head in the sand over the past year I’m sure
> you’ve noticed your day to day readings have become plagued with people
> proclaiming the importance of Design, particularly in the technology
> industry._

No, actually it's the inverse. This trend has faded in the past 1-2 years.
It's like he's ranting against grunge music in 1996.

> _For instance, the cycling lights they featured prominently don’t cast
> sufficient light to ride in dark conditions, have a horrible attachment
> mechanism that doesn’t work on things that aren’t tubes, and apparently the
> battery mounts break easily. But you can lock them to your d-lock so you
> don’t have to walk around with your lights when you park your bike, so lets
> give them an award nomination even though they fail at their one primary
> function OF BEING LIGHTS._

That (and the other examples he gives) doesn't prove that "design in tech is
stupid". Just that this product's functional design is bad, and that its
creators should have paid attention to the other necessary attributes for such
a device.

Remember the "Design is how it works" thing et al. But even if we are to think
of design as merely the "cosmetic" part, then again, given two functionaly
identical products, with the same capabilities, people would pick the more
nicely designed one over the cruder looking version. That's because being
pleasant to look at is also a feature (some people can't understand that, but
there are ancient, $500 billion / year industries like fashion that work on
this very principle, so it's not like it's some kind of passing fad).

~~~
graeham
I think the article is getting at the "design is form vs design is experience"
debate, and actually uses a good variety of real-world examples.

The title is obviously a bit link-baity/ sensationalist, but this is
unfortunately often required in blog-style writing. The title could have been
something like "Some people think good design is interesting aesthetics but
that doesn't matter if the thing doesn't work right in the first place".

The intention isn't that aesthetics don't matter, its that aesthetic design
can complement, but not replace, functionality and user experience.

