Welcome To The Era Of Design | Hacker News Reader

Welcome To The Era Of Design

forbes.com

22 pointshippee-lee12 comments

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

The era of the production line perhaps?

Although, if this is true, then it begs the question what has changed that the most successful companies no longer bulk produce what is cheapest/most modular/has the most features? Because we clearly haven't stopped mass producing things.

I would guess not, so this is academic.

Possibly the Era of Ad Infested Junk.

The Era of Engineering?

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

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...

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

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.

Television era.

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