[IxDA Discuss] Simplicity is Not Understood

[Esteban Barahona]

2007/1/18, Josh Viney <jviney at gmail.com>:
>
> Esteban,
>
> I dig the rant.


thanks

It brought to mind a conversation I had a while back about technology,
> usability and design.
>
> The bottom line was that usability can be ugly (please see useit.com for a
> prime example)


yes useit has some nice usability methods but aesthethically it's a website
stuck in the 90's


while technology and design can be completely unusable
> (please see 90% of web sites for prime examples).


Not on my bookmarks ;)


The key to making products
> that are usable, functional, and attractive is in creating synergy between
> technology, psychology and the aesthetic.


see/read Synergy (...the combination of senses). there's few activitities
that are more enjoyable than designing while listening to good music
(currently listening Massive Attack, cool group).


I like to call it elegance.


I call it Italian... linguistics are a valuable tool too.


Elegant product design requires an understanding of people, the business
> requirements, and of what is actually possible. It amounts to creating
> products that are like professional athletes, products that make the
> extremely difficult look easy. It ultimately takes a lot of work and some
> serious talent.


indeed. Products can be usable and look like sculptures, but most examples
are only useful as prime material for new, different, better products (like
~90% ...does anyone read Murphy's Laws? 90% of everything is
worthless/crap).

Many companies and people don't know how to build elegance. It brings to
> mind technology companies that focus too much on their frameworks or
> advertising agencies that focus too much on pixel-perfect design. Neither
> of
> which tends to have much empathy with the user.


humans don't know what they want.

Anyway, my goal is to build elegant products. The products that don't make
> people think when they should be doing, make people think when they should
> be learning, compel them by relating to them, and simply work.
>
> - Josh Viney


yes, me too... but I'm just on my first semester of Product Design. Shame...
there cann't be a "company/enterprise" that focus on designing interaction
over the Net... although the technology is there.