Joan Vinall-Cox's Library tagged design communication_skills →  View Popular

Oddly enough, having been raised as a practical farmer, one of my biggest problems has been getting to believe that making something merely look better was worthy toil. I often justified hours spent on design (expensive hours, paid for by the U.S. taxpayer) by emphasizing the benefits of ‘clarity’ or ‘ease of understanding for busy folks’ that it gave to the production.

“I am coming to believe that pleasing design needs no apology, even, if not especially, in scientific publications. Our societies are now at the stage that a great number of us can not only appreciate the pleasures offered by good design, but almost demand that artistic expression be placed on the same level as informational expression. I’m not sure why, but it has much to do with why we are human.”

Design is about communication.

To take a word or a thought and design it is to give it form and body, so others can see, too, and respond.

The more compelling the design, the deeper the response.

By more compelling, I don’t mean prettier, necessarily, or artsier. I mean richer, more complete, more efficient. The design I’m talking about isn’t about making something only look better, but actually function better. Design has to do with how a thing works.