

Welcome To The Era Of Design - hippee-lee
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gyro/2012/05/03/welcome-to-the-era-of-design/

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ilaksh
I have to say that a lot of this actually is superficiality, which should not
be applauded.

Having said that, I do think that design matters and that overall this new
design consciousness has resulted in an improved status quo. I think that part
of what may be driving that is the dramatic increase in the number of web,
mobile and desktop applications and devices. I think that there are a lot more
programmers, especially targeting consumer applications. I also think that
part of this is the result of the rise of web development and having quite a
lot of people with a web design background moving into application
development/design which has infused more aesthetic and marketing attention.

When there are a (large) number of different applications and devices with the
same important features for around the same ballpark amount of money, details
that are secondary to primary function become more important for making a
product stand out. Previously, much of application development was focused on
providing more and better features.

Now, when there are already two or three or a hundred applications in most
niches, developers have to invest their time in things like usability,
appearance and marketing, or there is a good chance that a very small
percentage of the population will learn of the existence of their application.

If there were really only one application available to perform a key function
in someone's life, they would be less inclined to dismiss it if they found the
color scheme or font distasteful or difficult to read or menu hard to
navigate.

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dave_sullivan
Good design absolutely makes a difference, but good design can mean a lot of
different things.

It doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful. Understanding the user, what
they're trying to accomplish, and how they want to accomplish it is just as
important (if not more so) as making something look good.

I think it speaks to the progress of the software industry more than anything:
Where before, everything was function and something actually working was close
to amazing, the software industry has become so mature at a technical level
that design has become a key differentiationg factor.

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danboarder
Perhaps more of a realization than a new era -- design and branding have
always been important, it's core to the concept of identity and human
perception of others' value (and power).

Comment edited to add that the power of a product, organization, or even
political parties and states exists in its identity and reputation (the core
ideas behind branding). These perceptions may or may not be well-founded.
Recall the Danish folk tale of the "Emperor's New Clothes". Popular perception
created around design and branding can become a cult following that is a
distortion if not blindness to reality. In the article Apple is used as an
example, but I would suggest history may show Apple to be a notorious example
of this as many refer to Steve Job's 'reality distortion field' that extends
to many loyal to the brand. (This coming from someone at this moment typing on
a Macbook Pro).

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jiggy2011
I recommend checking out the linked page to the UK govt design principles for
websites.

<https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples>

For something produced by the government it is a surprisingly good set of
principles and well illustrated with examples.

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gpcz
What era did we come out of in order to enter the Era of Design?

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demian
The Era of Engineering?

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gpcz
Isn't the definition of engineering to use scientific principles to design and
build things?

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lbotos
While your definition is accurate I think that engineering, by definition,
ignores aesthetics. This is the differentiating factor that we are starting to
see. The emotional aspect of design per se. You can usually tell when
something was designed by an engineer or designed by a designer. (For better
or worse.)

This image from the Dash documentation tool homepage outlines my point:

[http://kapeli.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/08/Screenshot-16.p...](http://kapeli.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/08/Screenshot-16.png)

I'd venture to say that this image was composed by an engineer.

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demian
Engineering is a hard thing to define, and the line between the definition of
"engineering design" and plain "design" is a blurry one, but yes, that's what
I meant.

It's basically a question about the field of design -specifically the nature
of the system/product/service to design- that determines the formation of the
individual designer. There is a cultural dichotomy between science and art,
specially in university. Engineers are "formed" as applied scientist, while
designers are applied artists. One tends to reductionism, the other to holism.
One tends to function, the other to form.

