Explain to a non-designer - web success

Out of context: Reply #7

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  • Morning_star1

    You can't go far wrong with Mr Rams' principles.

    Good design is innovative.
    Good design makes a product useful.
    Good design is aesthetic.
    Good design makes a product understandable.
    Good design is unobtrusive.
    Good design is honest.
    Good design is long-lasting.
    Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

    Many designers ignore most of these and get all fizzy about the aesthetic or the type or the imagery etc and they forget that most of the people who will be interacting with a consumer brand won't understand or care about the sophisticated aesthetic nuances.

    • Yeah these are for product design mostly, not for UI/webgrafician
    • Mm, 'good' web design is rarely innovative.
      IMO, 'good' web design gets the fuck out of the way and lets the content do its thing.
      Nairn
    • @grafician. Interesting, why do you think that there's a difference?Morning_star
    • I think it'd be quicker and easier for you to answer why you think it'd be otherwise, with examples.Nairn
    • I think each one of those design principles is appropriate for good UI/Web. Genuinely asking which of them isn't?Morning_star
    • Innovative. Unobtrusive. Honest. Long-lasting. Thorough down to the last detail. To me, these are affectations of people designing for permanence, not web.Nairn
    • I'd even lump in aesthetic and understandable too, if you consider what it is that contributed to Facebook's success, for instance.Nairn
    • ^yeah exactly this Nairngrafician
    • It's about the permanence of visual artefacts - an app is iterated upon monthly while a Braun radio is the same after 50 yearsgrafician
    • Is the web not permanent? Facebook for instance has evolved and embraced Innovation in numerous areas. It is unobtrusive in that it is familiar and predictable.Morning_star
    • It's honest, and long lasting. And FBs constant changes reflect a thoroughness in delivery the most appropriate product for it's stakeholders.Morning_star
    • I still remember the first time I uploaded to the web professionally.. and something wasn't right - 30 seconds later it was fixed and reuploaded.Nairn
    • Given the general startup advice in Silicon Valley is "Just do whatever to get it shipped" and there's a conformal culture, I disagree much thought needs put inNairn
    • I've lost count of the amount of startups I've seen rely on basic, unstripped Bootstrap code. No one cares, except us.Nairn
    • The code is not the product. To Graficians point, the plastics that were formed to construct the Braun product or the transistors etc can be upgraded etc...Morning_star
    • ...this is innovation. The product is the same but now does a better job. Surely this is the same with FB or any website?Morning_star
    • The code IS the product, if the code off the shelf is presentation and it's the first thing a prospective mark, sorry - client, sees.Nairn
    • "if the code IS off the shelf presentation.."Nairn
    • 'Mark' LOL. The user doesn't give a tuppence what the code is, all they are interested in is achieving their goal within a good experience. The Braun Radio...Morning_star
    • ...is not the plastic or the transistors.Morning_star
    • I'm clearly not making my point - I appreciate that the user doesn't give a fudge about the underlying code. They don't much give a fuck about UI eitherNairn
    • and, worryingly, nor do an increasing amount of developers. they just want to get the idea of something out and use a bare minimum template to do so.Nairn
    • Thereby creating digital products that aren't innovative, aesthetic, unobtrusive, long-lasting, etc etc. They merely function. Facebook functions.Nairn
    • ..and then you can make it pretty or better or more innovative (etc) after, if you wish, iteratively.Nairn
    • Yes a Braun radio has permanence in design and function. A website or any app does not. Instagram went from a photo app to an influencer platform in 10 y, etc.grafician
    • That's also why I hate people calling "product design" the shit we do on the internet, those are not real products, per se.grafician
    • You only need one of these points.

      "Good design makes a product useful".
      Nairn

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