Comments on: Useless design, part deux http://lonnroth.info/blog/2006/09/19/useless-design-part-deux/ Music and design connected Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:32:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: alex http://lonnroth.info/blog/2006/09/19/useless-design-part-deux/#comment-2267 alex Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:06:40 +0000 http://lonnroth.info/blog/2006/09/19/useless-design-part-deux/#comment-2267 On the one hand I agree with you when you wonder if we are actually overdoing things. My motto has been and still is "Less is More", and design should be the tool the user interacts with to access information or relate to his environment. On the other hand however, what makes design interesting is the multiple ways we can achieve the goal of making a website accesible w/o making it look boring or simple; or how we can motivate someone to read the newspaper by creating an interesting layout -which otherwise would be too boring to the eye. In a world where more and more people are increasingly becoming (highly) visually literate, going back to basics, if not done with a strategy in mind, would only render the effort useless. On the one hand I agree with you when you wonder if we are actually overdoing things. My motto has been and still is “Less is More”, and design should be the tool the user interacts with to access information or relate to his environment. On the other hand however, what makes design interesting is the multiple ways we can achieve the goal of making a website accesible w/o making it look boring or simple; or how we can motivate someone to read the newspaper by creating an interesting layout -which otherwise would be too boring to the eye. In a world where more and more people are increasingly becoming (highly) visually literate, going back to basics, if not done with a strategy in mind, would only render the effort useless.

]]> By: Olof Lönnroth http://lonnroth.info/blog/2006/09/19/useless-design-part-deux/#comment-2338 Olof Lönnroth Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:05:41 +0000 http://lonnroth.info/blog/2006/09/19/useless-design-part-deux/#comment-2338 <strong>alex:</strong> I know what you're saying, and I agree. Of course we are not going back to basics in the sense of making everything look like it did years ago. That would be stupid, really. But going back can also result in a forward motion, if done, as you suggested, "with a strategy in mind". And overdoing things can, of course, also be successful with the right strategy in mind (or a bit luck). What I mean is that going back to basics not necessarily have to mean being conservative or uncreative. It can also become a leap forward. I think people often try to come up with completely new things just for the sake of being revolutionary, without thinking about what people already know about, and without using the great amount of knowledge that is already out there. You can often transform something completely unusable into something very accessible, just by making some small detail remind people of something else they already know how to use (just take the desktop metaphor used in most operating systems today as an example). That's leaping forward with the help of back-to-basics-thinking to me. alex: I know what you’re saying, and I agree. Of course we are not going back to basics in the sense of making everything look like it did years ago. That would be stupid, really. But going back can also result in a forward motion, if done, as you suggested, “with a strategy in mind”. And overdoing things can, of course, also be successful with the right strategy in mind (or a bit luck).

What I mean is that going back to basics not necessarily have to mean being conservative or uncreative. It can also become a leap forward.

I think people often try to come up with completely new things just for the sake of being revolutionary, without thinking about what people already know about, and without using the great amount of knowledge that is already out there. You can often transform something completely unusable into something very accessible, just by making some small detail remind people of something else they already know how to use (just take the desktop metaphor used in most operating systems today as an example). That’s leaping forward with the help of back-to-basics-thinking to me.

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