What Makes Good Design?
29 January 2010Having to come up with a brief thesis statement, and then free-write based on said thesis for English, I chose the topic “what makes good design.” Subsequently, here is my thesis statement and page of free-writing. (The topic is most likely Hunson’s fault).
The following is incredibly raw, if you must…enlighten me, please know I’ll most likely agree with you. I just didn’t take the time to think things out like you did.
Good design is not determined by it’s individual factors, but rather, how each proponent of the design functions in concert with the rest to create something generally determined to be good design.
Design is more than just colors, buttons, and font. Design is typography, spacing, ideology, cleanliness, layout, formatting, patterns, alignment, usability, functionality, accommodation, mood, and uniqueness. Design is not a lifestyle, it is a way of life. It is a methodology; a deliberateness unseen in any other profession.
Inspiration (in it’s bloaty blog filling form) is not design. Inspiration is the soul crushing demon-spawn bile of the design world. Inspiration makes it impossible to do anything worth doing, because it will never be done right.
Design conveys feelings, emotion, brand, care, professionalism, creativity, and lastly: design. In the same way that design is subjective, design conveys itself. I know this is an incredibly poor way to describe design. Simply by listing it’s attributes, some common features of “good design,” but in all reality, good design just is. Like moral relativity – good design is not decided on. Some groups will attempt to come together and decide as a whole what is good for everyone, but in all reality, good design will be elevated above all the rest simply because it is. Therefore, good design is self fulfilling. To put it cliché-ly, good design has that je ne sais quoi that bad design, and mediocre design don’t have.
Good design is the product of practice, attention to detail, and knowing what people like, because good design is solely determined by people liking it (not necessarily in the same decade or century). Some people would most likely debate this, saying that good design is not caring what people think. Rather, simply doing what you think is best. I find this to have a disturbing degree of narcissism intertwined within. But then again, I lack confidence myself, so this may simply be a by-product of those personal feelings (I’m agnostic, etc).
All in all, good design is less about the design itself, and more about what it conveys.
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Comments
Yes Hunson – I most likely had that implanted in my brain because if you…but did I use your points too?
You totally read my IM about my writing assignment on “What is Design” and answered it for yourself huh?
CONFESS.
I almost think it would have been a better idea to describe everything that design ISN’T. As you touch on, design is so many things.
When I design, the main things I consider are mood and functionality. What kind of mood/message am I trying to convey? And will it actually serve a purpose instead of just looking good?
I definitely agree with your views on people who think “good design is not caring what people think.” If people do not respond to your design, or if everybody hates it, then you did not do a good job! The response your design elicits is what makes it good or bad.