Comment on Node ant

Scott Doty — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:04:26 -0500

Designers are no longer solely concerned with the look of things. The best of design makes products easier and more comfortable to use in both a physical and cognitive sense. Yes, aesthetics is a valuable part of that. In cognitive scientist Donald Norman's recent writings he makes a case that beauty can have a positive effect on usability. To argue that business people [in the case of Fast Company] and gadget lovers [in the case of gadget blogs] would not be at all interested in design is clearly off base.

Fast Talk Response -

Scott Doty — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:54:38 -0400

I don't think so. I admire the new milk jug for it's efficiency, but the fact that people have difficulty pouring it is a design flaw, not the beginning of a trend. In fact, trends are toward both sustainable and user centered design. This question alludes to a false dichotomy that people often take as a given. Great design is about optimizing the most important concerns regarding a given product. I predict future super jugs that pour with ease.