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Comment by scott_s | Hacker News Reader

I think high contrast text is good typography.

But for people in other, "left-brained" professions, enhancing creativity is less important and engaging people is less important, so it makes sense that they would see design rules as irrelevant extra work of little value.

If you assume my work requires no creativity, or that I think design rules are irrelevant, then you are mistaken. I don't like design for the sake of design. I do like design that looks good and enhances a things intended purpose.

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You think it is, why? And what evidence do you have to prove it?

Because I find it easier to read. I have no evidence other than my own experience. If anyone has done experiments supporting either way, I'd love to see them.

I don't think you're work requires no creativity. But I think you have to explain why visual design that's experimentally shown to impair creative cognition is tolerated and even embraced by people in "left-brained" professions. My explanation is that people just have different needs. Not everyone needs high octane gas, and designers shouldn't assume that they do.

"Design for design sake" is just another way of saying you don't share the designer goals of engaging an audience and enhancing creative cognition. There's nothing wrong with that, people have different needs, so "good" means something different to a designer than it does to you.

Creative cognition related to what? Their own work, or the material presented? I'd have to see the studies themselves - I can't comment on studies that I have not read firsthand.

"Design for design's sake" is what I call design that interferes with the purpose of what's being designed for. An example would be a chair that is "creatively engaging" but is uncomfortable to sit in.

So, you write a paper on a recent physics experiment. You publish it on Science magazine, or your Lab. Both of them have carefully designed templates (science mag specializes in this). Creativity involved.

You just compiled your CLI program, and you're testing it's output. You're staring at specialized typefaces and an optimized screen. Creativity involved (you aren't a good programmer if you lack creativity).

The other side: you're a store manager, programmer manager, or X manager, you have to make a fast presentation of your key notes. You start PowerPoint, and select some template. (Creativity Involved?)

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