Last week Aberdeen experienced a 2-day ‘heat wave’. Usually in the Granite City, we leave our jackets at home, search for the one pair of shorts that we own and declare a heat wave once the temperature reaches 12°C, but the temperature rapidly approached 30°C.
Despite throwing open all of the windows, the office was sweltering, and my colleagues and I languished over our computers. Our office has a fan, but it stood in the corner, ignored. Why? It was ‘broken’; apparently one day it was working, the next it was not.
Eventually, as the thermometer reached 28°C, we had had enough and investigated the ineffective appliance. It was plugged in and the socket switched on. The fan itself didn’t seem to have an on/off switch, yet nothing was happening. We tried a different socket to no avail, and decided it was ridiculous that an electrical appliance wouldn’t have a power switch. Frantically we started clutching at the fan, looking for the elusive switch.
Seemingly by accident, one of use grabbed at a band of blue plastic around the base of the fan, and unexpectedly, it twisted around. As you have no doubt guessed, the fan had been switched off, and this accident switched it back on (no one has yet admitted to switching it off, maybe they were just enjoying seeing the rest of us look stupid!).
And the moral of this lengthy anecdote: a power switch disguised for aesthetic effect makes for very sweaty designers. Seriously though, I’m all for making things look nicer but if a power switch is so hidden, does it still function as a power switch?
Form Follows Function
This made me think of the principle of “form follows function”. As you may know the phrase is associated with modern design and architectural movements of the 20th century, such as the Bauhaus. The idea is that the shape, or form, of a piece of design is based on the intended purpose of that item. For example, a jug requires space to hold some liquid and a spout in order to pour that liquid. Once you have those two things in place, you have a jug. Any extraneous details after that are fine: you can add a decorative handle, paint a pattern onto the surface of the jug etc. As long as they don’t impede its ability to hold and pour, it remains a jug.
So that’s great, if you design jugs, but what if you’re a graphic or web designer?
When’s my bus?
Well, graphic design is about communicating ideas and information. A poster, for example, needs to display information in a concise way to attract passers-by; adding decoration can make people stop and look more closely, giving you longer to convey that information.
So the trend for ornate typography is entirely appropriate here, but try using it on a bus timetable and it’s a different story. Clarity is the most important aspect in displaying this information, so ornate text on a timetable would likely confuse you enough to make you miss your bus.
Can I click it?
For web design, where there is greater user interaction, this is even more important. After all, if your link or button doesn’t look like a link or button, how will the user know they can click it? It’s important to encourage visitors to explore your website further, so make it easy for them to do so. If they can’t find the contact page of your site, or the sales page, they’ll never progress from visitor to customer. Make navigating your site hard, and they’ll go elsewhere.
I’m not saying that all design should be minimal and decoration banned (though I do like minimalism!), but it should be used appropriately; decoration for the sake of decoration can distract from what you’re trying to achieve, whether that’s providing information, or selling a product, and that will, ultimately, spoil your design.
Right then, I’m off to check my designs for gratuitous decoration!
Image credit: SXC
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