Thinking about Design this Weekend
I spent a lot of time thinking about design -
design in the big open sense of design. This started when I heard an interview
of Harvey Molotch on Whad'ya Know on
Saturday (here is the RAM file - the interview starts at the 6 minute
mark). He is the author of the book Where
Stuff Comes From: How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers and Many Other Things
Come to Be As They Are. This was followed by
some reading some of Douglas Bowman's writings on his site Stop Design .
His article called "The Cost of Page Rank " discusses the impact of
having your web site improperly highly ranked in a search engine. Bowman's
portfolio contains some of the most useful and interesting web sites that I use
regularly: Blogger, Wired News, Lycos, Web Monkey and HotBot. I remember
reading his article "Sliding Doors of CSS " when it first came out
and being amazed at the elegance and simplicity but the thoroughness of his
work. Here is a person who can make clean and crisp CSS code which handles the
oddities of IE5 on Mac.
But back to Harvey Mulotch. He said of couple of
very interesting things (to me) in his interview. The first was that (I am
paraphrasing) Design has to be creative
and up to the minute with the whims of the moment but it also has to take
advantage of the latest technologies and advances. The PT Cruiser is flash back
automobile but his has airbags and cup holders and all of the modern technology.
The second was that:
modern art tends to lead the publics eye
across all forms of design (Art, Architecture and Design) towards what is cool
and hip and exciting. This creates a standard that permeates the culture. This
standardization of design across sections of the culture makes the objects
accessible and friendly. People know how to approach the object and how to
interact and see the object.
Think of when the iMac first came out in the clear candy colors with the round dewdrop shape. Then suddenly there were toasters, mugs, lamps, picture frames... everything looked like an iMac. Cutting edge design leads the culture. The design of the culture follows so that all objects become familiar and friendly. Style is set.
Now knit these thoughts as you look at Stop Design . The site is visually attractive. Nice use of color to divide up the space and allow the eye to flow with the content. The presentation is instantly navigable. You know where the buttons are. You are sure that there are "View More" links at the bottom of each section and they are easy to find. Each category is easily identified. Look for something - his portfolio, how to contact him, his blog - it is easy to find. It is beautiful work. It is good information architecture. It is sound code. I'm sure you could go to this site from any reasonable browser on Mac, Linux and Windows and it would display well. If I sound like I'm in awe, it is because I am. I feel like I have had a chance to have coffee with Einstein. I want to crawl into his brain and see how it works because I'm sure I would be closer to enlightenment... at least as it applies to web design, graphics design and information architecture.
So how does Harvey Mulotch and Douglas Bowman come together in my mind? It is easiest to see if you go to Bowman's "Blogger Redesign " portfolio entries. There are two parts to this story.
The first is the design of the portfolio. First there is the navigation links. "No 1 of 10" tells you how long you are going to spend reading about the redesign and where you are. "Next >>" is obvious. You instantly recognize line of grayscale graphics under the navigation links as a set of buttons. Why? Because of the borders and the lack of color. Douglas understands that this icon is known to be a button so he can represent them minimally. He gives you subtle cues: dark blue border boxes, mouse overs that are color. The portfolio is an example of his design sense that is just as impressive as the sites in his portfolio.
The second is the actual discussion about his portfolio. He talks about the importance of simplicity and the goals of the design improvements. You are walked through his process and his outcome.
It was a good weekend for thinking about design. Harvey Molotch got me thinking about why design permeates the culture. He got me thinking about the importance of recognizing what is current and what is cutting edge and how to make products approachable by steeping them in current culture and icons. Douglas Bowman showed my how this applies to technology especially to web design. He showed me how to find the minimal set of objects that will simplify your presentation but still leave it navigable and approachable. He showed me how a deep understanding of the technology of CSS, XHTML and browsers means you can use clean and minimal code to build dynamic, cutting edge and artful web sites.
It was very good weekend for thinking about design.
- JJP
Think of when the iMac first came out in the clear candy colors with the round dewdrop shape. Then suddenly there were toasters, mugs, lamps, picture frames... everything looked like an iMac. Cutting edge design leads the culture. The design of the culture follows so that all objects become familiar and friendly. Style is set.
Now knit these thoughts as you look at Stop Design . The site is visually attractive. Nice use of color to divide up the space and allow the eye to flow with the content. The presentation is instantly navigable. You know where the buttons are. You are sure that there are "View More" links at the bottom of each section and they are easy to find. Each category is easily identified. Look for something - his portfolio, how to contact him, his blog - it is easy to find. It is beautiful work. It is good information architecture. It is sound code. I'm sure you could go to this site from any reasonable browser on Mac, Linux and Windows and it would display well. If I sound like I'm in awe, it is because I am. I feel like I have had a chance to have coffee with Einstein. I want to crawl into his brain and see how it works because I'm sure I would be closer to enlightenment... at least as it applies to web design, graphics design and information architecture.
So how does Harvey Mulotch and Douglas Bowman come together in my mind? It is easiest to see if you go to Bowman's "Blogger Redesign " portfolio entries. There are two parts to this story.
The first is the design of the portfolio. First there is the navigation links. "No 1 of 10" tells you how long you are going to spend reading about the redesign and where you are. "Next >>" is obvious. You instantly recognize line of grayscale graphics under the navigation links as a set of buttons. Why? Because of the borders and the lack of color. Douglas understands that this icon is known to be a button so he can represent them minimally. He gives you subtle cues: dark blue border boxes, mouse overs that are color. The portfolio is an example of his design sense that is just as impressive as the sites in his portfolio.
The second is the actual discussion about his portfolio. He talks about the importance of simplicity and the goals of the design improvements. You are walked through his process and his outcome.
It was a good weekend for thinking about design. Harvey Molotch got me thinking about why design permeates the culture. He got me thinking about the importance of recognizing what is current and what is cutting edge and how to make products approachable by steeping them in current culture and icons. Douglas Bowman showed my how this applies to technology especially to web design. He showed me how to find the minimal set of objects that will simplify your presentation but still leave it navigable and approachable. He showed me how a deep understanding of the technology of CSS, XHTML and browsers means you can use clean and minimal code to build dynamic, cutting edge and artful web sites.
It was very good weekend for thinking about design.
- JJP
Posted: Sun - June 13, 2004 at 09:04 PM
