F*ck function. Let's make design pretty again.
I mean it. F*ck function, there, I said it again.
Ok. I don't really mean it but stay with me, I got a point.
Not only is beauty so disregarded in the age of digital design, I feel that the design community also misjudges it.
I like to design pretty things, I like to post it on Dribbble or to look at what other designers are jamming, from weather app concepts and dashboards with sexy gradients to Youtube and Facebook redesigns that just look gooooood. I look at it and think…
“It’s just beautiful and I love it.”
“Just a beautiful UI that doesn’t make sense at all and I love it.”
“It’s nothing but pretty; Beauty is the entire purpose.”
But wait a minute… Should I feel ashamed? Why? Oh, you think design should be merely functional? Since when did creating beautiful things become a crime?
“Beauty, I call you for justice”
“The crime? Accused of doing nothing but being pretty, just sitting there and showing off your style while everyone else is offering some real value”.
“I call Usability to testify.”
Did we forget something along the way?
Maybe we forgot to have fun? We had it when we were kids. Remember? That thing we used to do when we were able to see pure moments of joy in everything.
Why did we become such functional junkies? The modern world, the market, and especially the startup culture and language.
We research, make personas, user flows, A/B tests, checklists and feedback loops, we follow tasks and deliver stuff. We are creating something instead of creating something amazing.
“Stop making it pretty! Let’s make this thing work!”
“I am not developing this small micro-interaction because I have to deliver, and anyway, it works fine.”
“It’s very pretty, but is it also usable?” (I hate this one the most, as if the one competes with the other. Well, it’s doesn’t.)
This doesn't seem right
and it will kill us in the long term. I've been fed up with this mindset for a while but I am not buying this anymore, it's not enough for me, I want more.
“This is not who we are” Tobias & Stepehan
This is not being human. And by all means, I'm not saying that function isn't essential, and I'm not saying functionality shouldn't come first because it should.
Beauty is part of the functionality.
Beauty lives in peace in the designer's toolbox and serves a purpose.
Beauty makes people happy because they start to feel. And users (believe it or not) are people with feelings.
Natural and pure beauty is the side effect of good design anyway. Yup, if you are doing great design work, you are already making beautiful things.
Does your design solve a real problem? Good. But it might not be enough. Does your design communicate with real people? Is it in a visual language they understand?
There is beauty in everything that is created with love and care. And people can sense it, ordinary people (not designers, they are something else), which is why we should put love, respect, and beauty into our design.
