The red text is mine.
You're right, he is quite an interesting character, with lots of interesting ideas
hey dave, i understand you are not traducing designers. (geez i had to look that word up)
hey ken,
"it's probably important that some of it is total crap, because if it was not, it would mean that he was not really trying very hard"
bingo!
i gotta say though, i don't mind branding things with their name all over them. especially if it's really over the top or forms something more complex like dot art does. look at RRD. they completely rebelled from the boring graphics most board makers were using. RRD have really done it for me. bold and stylish all in one go. i'd love to spend a day with roberto.
Hi Gybesports,
it's interesting the 6 degrees of seperation in windsurfing. Dan even sounds like he's walking a similar path as amac at KA. both put function first, both design moth sails, both spend a lot of time in HK...... it would be good if the joe average sailors got to talk with these guys. like what the guys found in hawaii talking with the NP designers it puts a completely new spin on the sport when you get to have a one on one with the designers. see the passion in their eyes. i thought it interesting when myerhoffer referenced the automobile industry. KA grahpics obvious connection there also.
anyways, i'm excited with the direction of the sport.
Perhaps I'm turning into an old-fashioned curmudgeon, who knows nothing about web design (funny, you'd think I'd have picked something up in the ten years I've been exposed to it).
For me, good design is unobtrusive. It's like a well designed bridge. You drive straight over the top without ever realising what you've done. You might glance out at the water to see if it's whitecapping but that's about it. It's only when you get underneath and have a look at the trusses that you realise that a heck of a lot of thought has gone into making it so seamless.
The same goes for the Perth public transport system. Totally unobtrusive -- you have one card that gets you onto trains, buses and ferries. You don't even need to swipe it, just put your wallet on the reading pad and BEEP the gates open. Simple, effective, but I guarantee that a metric shipload of thought went into the design.
Same goes for icons. A well designed icon doesn't scream "LOOK AT ME", it shows graphically what the icon represents, in a common manner that is so totally obvious to the user that the user simply doesn't notice the icon at all. I've been doing a lot of usability testing lately with my web-work, and have found that icon colour, placement, and behaviour makes a huge difference to how quickly people can use a site. I've found improvements of up to 2000% (0.5 seconds vs 10 seconds) in the speed at which a new user accomplishes a task, simply by changing the icon location and colour.
The new layout of my system gets out of the user's way. It lets them do what they want, in such a seamless fashion that they don't even notice the design. They concentrate on their own work, rather than being hit in the face with mine.
Trumpeting loudly about all the subtlety of your own designs seems a bit juvenile to me. But then again I just did it in the paragraphs above
I guess I just don't know enough about design to appreciate his work.
I think there's a difference between being a good designer and trying to look like one.
You may have blown your own trumpet Nebbs but Ric Mayall couldn't use a word of it.
You'll have to go to posing school I'm afraid.
See, just cos wiki says it does not make it true.
Further, I would argue that we are presently having a robust philosophical discussion, yet we are not solving the mysteries of life.
I would contend that the famous philosophers did not either. They just drank a lot of booze while arguing about stuff and a lot of the argument was facetious. Have you never heard of the Sophists ?
We are no closer to solving those mysteries now than ever, at a philosophical level. I feel we have actually come a long way at a scientific level.
See, I agree with much of what you say here, but by your own admission you can't follow your own principles.
I don't think there is anything wrong with marketing yourself in the modern world, cos really, economic survival depends on it. I also have no problem with you stating an objective measure of improvement. I feel no surprise that good web page layout improves speed. I've had a longstanding gripe with web-designers that they focus on "coolness" at the expense of function. I've left plenty of slow crap ones before they finished loading, and I'm glad that Jobby left flash off the iPad. Anything that contributes to the agonising death of that crap is only a good thing.
I dispute that good design is always unobtrusive. It depends on the goal.
The Box of Tissues is hardly unobtrusive, and despite the largely forgotten hue and cry over what a waste of money it was originally, it is Australia's most beloved design.
Ditto the bridge next to it.
I've been over the Gateway Bridge a bunch of times, and I notice it every time. The rise and fall, as well as the view is unmistakable. Now maybe you could argue that it should be flat, so I don't notice a rise and fall, but then the big boats would not fit under it.
Smaller elements of an overall larger design may well be unobtrusive, which is why you have to sometimes point them out to people so they "get it", or get that you are worth something.
As soon as debate starts raging about web design, philosophy, the definition of philosophy, and references to the apple/adobe flash debate
... in a windsurfing forum
It's time to say boobs (.)(.)
dave, it's design philosophy, not philosophy, anyways.....
i've tried to avoid the debate that's moved it away from windsurfing but unfortunately have been dragged back in.
so here is my final take.
I think experienced designers stop short of criticising other peoples work.
they know it's a slippery slope.
they also know they are not informed of all the facts, ie the brief!
and that at some point someone is going to ask, so where's your work?
they typically try to look forward and celebrate the work that inspires
they also know it's a never ending journey and mistakes need to be made and there are always opportunities.
and at the end of the day they try not to listen too much to critisism and hold onto their beliefs and their design philosophies.
or in chocos case a box and a pair of limoncello boobies.
alright, one more post then.
i'm not politicing. i just don't think we should critisise someone who has won international awards multiple times.
not to say everyone isn't entitled to their own opinion.
p.s. did you watch the lautner doco last night?
Uber designers are like a cult that is supported by the publishing industry which needs to create stories that the design magazine/book buying public is willing to pay for. These design “stories” usually follow a particular story arc, designer is born, designer has unusual arty difficult upbringing, designer produces early work which is commented upon, celebrated by, the publishing industry. The celebrity designer is always male. It’s all very Harry Potter.
In reality design evolution is much more fractured usually the best designs come from small companies who are willing to take risks and try new things as they try to erode the market leaders. The market leaders are quick to see these changes in the market, they haven’t kept their position by being slow adopters.
Being large companies with a lot at stake they employ celebrity designers who are good at appropriating designs and repackaging them, winning awards, creating publicity and so on.
1. This cult of celebrity is slowly breaking down as new forms of media and communication replace the old ones.
2. This cult of celebrity is being reinforced as the amount of information that the market leaders can collect is increasing exponentially.
Two pages of design & philosophy & you still haven't drawn or built anything
Must be either advertising exec or arcitecks - engineers would have it built (not necessarily pretty) & working by now
Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."