“Learning to See”
I have always wondered if what I consider good design would be seen the same way by somebody else. I used to think good design is something that is simply visually pleasing to the observer, so it made more sense to think that good design is completely subjective as we all see things differently. After 2 weeks of starting to get to know the UX/UI Design world, I can confidently say that good design is so much more than being pretty.
As the “Learning to see” article very accurately says “visual and functional beauty are not completely independent”. On the contrary, they go hand in hand. Even if you had the visually most beautiful design, as long as it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be possible to consider it “good design”. The design concept involves, most importantly, functionality. Why? You just don’t design to make something pretty, you design to make something work. It is only once you make it work that you can start thinking of its aesthetic. Dieter Rams’ “Ten principles for good design” are quite accurate as well when defining what good design means. Only 1 of these 10 principles mentions the “pretty” aspect: “Good design is aesthetic”. Nevertheless, this same principle can’t help mentioning functionality as well “But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.”
The following quote is included in the previously mentioned article and it clearly defines how important was functionality considered by one of the most influential people in the tech world: “[Design] is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”. —Steve Jobs
Interesting right? Moreover, I think this is where empathy gets involved in the designer’s path. The design has to primarily work for the customer you are designing for, not only for yourself. Can this design “eye” be trained? Definitely. “Learning to see” has a very interesting point:
“With practice your intuition evolves, and the better you understand what you do, the deeper your intuition.”
I think that the better you get, the more naturally it becomes to distinguish good from bad design and I can’t wait to get better at it myself!















