[Sigia-l] is bad design a choice?

[Jared M. Spool]

Ohhh. I get it now.

"Bad design" is design *you* don't like. 17 million folks can be happy with 
it (including Alex's room-storming mom), but if *you* don't like it, well, 
it's bad.

Got that. Thanks for clearing it up for me. I always wondered. Now I know.

:)

Jared



At 09:58 AM 10/17/2005, Dave Heller wrote:

>them there are fightin' words. ;)
>
>jared, if you are lookin' to pick a fight, I may have to oblige, but
>only over a lot of root beer at 3a in the lobby of a nice hotel ....
>
>seriously, though. I don't think anyone here is saying that design
>trumps content (or for that matter visa versa).
>
>I can talk of my experience of eBay.
>1) I can't find what i want
>2) 2 i hate how it is presented, so really I don't trust what I'm
>getting. i really don't.
>3) I feel that eBay does nothing to help its customers make themselves
>seem anything more than "off the back of the truck" providers. I feel
>they do them a dis-service.
>
>As for MySpace, I feel this is about engagement. Community building is
>like home building. I stay here a lot and so I want to feel
>comfortable.
>
>eBay doesn't have to change its design b/c it is a veritable monopoly.
>I don't think that MySpace can do that.
>
>so yes, content or process is king, but design differentiates (and
>btw, I'm not just talking about visual aesthetics either). I'm also
>speaking about behavioral interaction design, where it is obvious that
>there is thought to the context and use of a tool and how it is used
>in that context. I think eBay fails miserably on this route of design
>as well.
>
>-- dave
>
>
>On 10/17/05, Jared M. Spool <jspool at uie.com> wrote:
> > By what metric are you judging MySpace (and eBay, for that matter,) to be
> > *bad design*? Because it is ugly? Because *you* have trouble finding your
> > way around it?
> >
> > It always intrigues me that people in the design community are ready to
> > praise a design where the aesthetics and "navigation" are well thought out,
> > but no effort has be put into the content. Yet, when a site comes along
> > with excellent content (for its user community) and poor aesthetics and
> > "navigation", the condemnations rise quickly.
> >
> > Here's a thought: maybe MySpace sold for so much money purely because of
> > its content (and the access to 17 million content providers)? Maybe that's
> > also why eBay and CraigsList (another "bad design" site) are so valuable
> > today? Maybe the users of such designs are happy with poor aesthetics and
> > "navigation" when the content exceeds their expectations?
> >
> > Maybe, just maybe, content trumps "design"?
> >
> > Just sayin'
> >
> > :)
> >
> > Jared
> >
> >
> >
> > Jared M. Spool, Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering
> > 4 Lookout Lane, Unit 4d, Middleton, MA 01949
> > 978 777-9123   jspool at uie.com  http://www.uie.com
> > Blog: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks
> >
> >
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>
>--
>David Heller
>E: dheller (at) gmail (dot) com
>W: www (dot) synapticburn (dot) com