Good Versus Great Design
These days I’m deep into home and garden design, looking for cool ideas and ways to make my small “machine for living” home even better. And, it’s National Design Week. All of which got me to thinking.
“Design” applies across the board - it’s not just “art” or a nice to have. It’s inherent (or should be) to a business plan or web site. (You wouldn’t try to build a house without a blueprint, would you?) It’s flow in a house; navigation on a web site; evolution of a marketing tactic. It’s how the handle works (or doesn’t) on a can opener. It’s how well (or badly) your new computer works (and “works” depends greatly on the user’s perception and background. “Oh, it’s easy!” to you is “What the !#&*?” to your neighbor.) It’s function not just looks - something way too many people forget when designing a web site. And, code - no matter how geek elegant - is useless if it isn’t truly user-friendly.
Visitors to my house “love it” and can’t say why. It’s a standard 1950s floor plan (phone booth of a master bath), with nothing that really stands out. However, the people who renovated it (before me) did a lot of things right (likely without even knowing it) - adhering to the the three basics of design (from “Not So Big” Design):
1. Space
2. Light
3. Order
Seems to me these fundamentals apply thoughout life - not just to architecture. It also explains why some buildings/plans/marketing tactics/web sites have such a profound positive impact and you don’t know exactly why.
You notice good design. You feel great design.
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April 27th, 2007 at 11:07 am
[…] I’m a huge fan of Sarah Susanka, an architect who has written the Not So Big House books. I’m not alone – the books are very popular and in March 2007 This Old House magazine listed The Not So Big House as number three on its list of 10 “must-own tomes for any serious homeowner.” I’d add that anyone serious about great design should read memorize Sarah’s books. […]