Home » Archives » September 2004 » What is Design? [Previous entry: "God! I wish I could figure out what the fuck I am supposed to be doing!"] [Next entry: "Funny, if you get it."] 09/16/2004: "What is Design?" listening to: NPR, again, still...
feeling: Ummm. Mood?

"Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's this veneer - that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and Guy Who Gets It.

Everything "works" somehow. It's not about technology. How it works is the interface. Technology is Why it Works.

There's more after the jump...
I would like to add some things to this, but didn't feel like leaving it on the front page...

There are some things in this world that will never be perfect.
Most things, actually, as I think about it.
I myself, will never be perfect.
Technology, arts, science, etc...is never perfect.
Things can only be as good as they are in the moment that they are created. So, what you get instead of a perfect product, is a series of incremental releases.
Each is obsolete somewhere between the point where the idea smacks you in the back of the head and the point at which it reaches production.

The point I am getting at, is this: Design, just like technology, is subject to updates, patches, and incremental releases. Every idea is the best idea you've ever had, until you have the next one. (Unless, of course, you suck.) I need to get used to that and just get things produced. If I keep waiting for a better idea, I'll never get anything done.