In Defense of Design: When Form Is As Important As Function
Everyone thinks they know about good design, and while we all understand our tastes, making a product look good is more than just making it beautiful. Form and function have to go together to work well together, but both must be present. This is why form is so important when it makes the product better, and when too much can actually make the product worse.
Why good design matters (and don’t be afraid to spend money on it)
The claim that good design matters when it comes to the things we buy shouldn’t be controversial. Function is important too, of course, but a good form can complement a function or make a function available in a way that it wouldn’t otherwise. The attention to design is what made web browsers, voice commands in iOS and Android instead of hardware buttons, and smart keyboards on smartphones really useful and not crappy. Without it, we would still be drowning in nested menus and layered toolbars that many applications still cling to.
Likewise, there is a widespread belief that form is not as important as function. We hear this when people criticize companies like Apple and Google, and especially if they think design makes technology more expensive. “Why would I pay so much more if it’s just beautiful and well-designed when I can get a computer with the same internals for less money?” Well, it’s not just the guts. Good design is more than just makeup, and while makeup is important, it’s not the end of the story. Nobody wants to pay unnecessarily for looks, but you also have to remember that your investment in technology is just that. They will have value to you over time, and while that value does not increase, you still want to maximize it. Also, if form didn’t matter at all, human interface engineers and UI / UX designers wouldn’t have a job, would they?
When design makes products better
When we talked about how to choose the perfect laptop and how students can choose a laptop , we explained that it is important to consider design considerations when shopping. You probably keep the same in mind when buying a smartphone or a pair of headphones. Besides asking “how well does it work as intended,” you also consider “is it well done” and “will I easily break this?”
Here are some scenarios where good design is really important and worth looking out for:
- Build quality : When it comes to laptops, smartphones, headphones, electronics and other gadgets, design really does matter. Is this thing made to last, or will it fall apart? Does it feel flimsy or is it durable when you use it the way you will use it when you take it home? Is the product made of quality materials? For example, Apple gets a lot of heat from over-designing its products, but its laptops are made of solid aluminum, with particular attention to how the ports are cut from the chassis. Apple’s trackpads are made of glass, but they feel metal and are designed for regular use. This level of focus indicates equipment that is likely to last longer than you actually want to use what’s under the hood.
- Durability : Durability is a bit like build quality, but in this case it has more to do with whether the tool will withstand regular use without breaking or slowing down. For example, good, durable headphones with great sound may still show signs of cracking where the headband meets the headphones if you have a wide head, depending on how you personally use them. Think about your use case when you buy and whether the device you are considering can withstand the type of punishment you will impose on it. A well-tailored pair of jeans can be made from quality denim and be the perfect size, but if you need work pants, for example, and they’re not strong enough to withstand water, rain and wind, they are not durable and not worth your investment.
- Accessibility : Accessibility is important for physical devices (think about how easy or difficult it is to reach the power button or volume rocker with one hand on a phone), but it’s especially important for software. When we tweaked Windows for high-resolution screens , we took the time to use accessibility options. Does this app have features that make it easy to read at night? Does it support voice commands? If you are visually impaired, can he enlarge the text size or read the text aloud? For example, Microsoft’s decision to add the “Ribbon” to Office 2007 was hotly debated, but was generally seen as useful for accessibility. It has brought commonly used functions to the front, centered, and easier to access without going deep into menus or requiring many nested toolbars. The idea of placing common tools in front of the user while hiding less frequently used ones is stuck and is present in many applications today, including Windows Explorer.
- Personalization : Personalization may not be important for everyone, but most of us enjoy customizing the tools we work with. This includes bringing features we like to the front of the app, or being able to select the type of switches on our mechanical keyboard. Personalization is more than color; this can often mean the difference between being content with whichever manufacturer chooses for you and creating a perfect product for you when you open it. Mechanical keyboards are a great example of this . A cheap keyboard is enough for some, but for enthusiasts, being able to choose the switch type and keycaps to suit your typing style and preferred feel is something they could never live without. None of this necessarily changes the actual physical purpose of the keyboard, but it definitely does change the way you interact with and feel about it.
- Aesthetics : Most people care a lot about the look of the things they buy, even if those things are not an integral part of their job. This is very personal, but it’s still important to think it over before spending money. Whether it’s an HDTV or a smartphone, consider whether the item is designed in such a way that you find it attractive or pleasing to the eye. For this reason, people argue about whether iOS or Android “looks” better, or whether Apple laptops are more attractive than ultrabooks with an equally well-thought-out design. However, keep in mind that products that “look” better retain their value longer. After all, people like to buy attractive things. There is no right answer for everyone, but there is definitely a right answer for you and you should be looking for it. Just focus on your personal sense of aesthetics, not what marketing tells you .
It’s easy to get bogged down in thinking that only features are important, but if you focus entirely on whether the product is “ticking all the boxes”, you’ll fall right into the “flag syndrome”. This is what happens when we spend money on things that we don’t need because we think we should buy the thing with the longest specification. We assume that more features means we get a better product and nothing could be further from the truth.
Instead, focus on your needs and what you want out of your purchase, then explore the features that meet those needs. Are they well implemented, easy to use, or well built? Which device do you think will make you happier in the long run? Do you really enjoy looking at or using this product? Ask yourself these questions instead of looking for the phone with the most widgets that you will never activate, or the software with the most features that you will never use.
When too much or strict design degrades product quality
Of course, there are other situations where design can actually degrade product quality. Charging cables for Apple laptops and devices are a good example. People had to come up with several ways to wind these cables in order to avoid breakage. Apple’s insistence on maintaining a consistent style and keeping track of their cables ultimately means they sacrificed build quality in the process. Apple’s now infamous “hockey puck” mouse is another great example where desirable looks trumped common sense (and as a result, the mouse is often featured on lists of “Apple’s worst products of all time” ). won, but the rest lost.
Apple isn’t the only offender here. Samsung only recently learned that no one needed TouchWiz and gradually rolled it back. Back in 2010, the music site TheSixtyOne completely redesigned its design using the photocentric method of viewing music. Unfortunately, while some experts liked it (check the comments on this article), it led to a massive exodus of users and open riot from the user community . Regardless, the founders did not give up on their intentions, and while the site still exists, it is abandoned, more or less another graveyard of music services. Users have moved on to services that focus their energies on improving the experience, not simplifying for the sake of simplification.
Of course, no one likes changes, and every design change or iteration will be the last straw for someone , but these are all examples of services where design came at the expense of usability and functionality. These two should complement each other, and it is important not to pay attention to people shouting “look how beautiful!” to see the real purpose of the design.