Good design is...

Things which are different in order simply to be different are seldom better, but that which is made to be better is almost always different.
Dieter Rams, 1993

My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.
Dieter Rams, 1980

Good design is innovative
It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product. The possibilities in this respect are by no means exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.

Good design makes a product useful
A product is bought in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose – in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimise the utility of a product.

Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product – and the fascination it inspires – is an integral part of its utility. Without doubt, it is uncomfortable and tiring to have to put up with products that are confusing, that get on your nerves, that you are unable to relate to. However, it has always been a hard task to argue about aesthetic quality, for two reasons.

Firstly, it is difficult to talk about anything visual, since words have a different meaning for different people.

Secondly, aesthetic quality deals with details, subtle shades, harmony and the equilibrium of a whole variety of visual elements. A good eye is required, schooled by years and years of experience, in order to be able to draw the right conclusion.

Good design helps a product to be understood
It clarifies the structure of the product. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory and saves you the long, tedious perusal of the operating manual.

Good design is unobtrusive
Products that satisfy this criterion are tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained leaving room for the user’s self-expression.

Good design is honest
An honestly-designed product must not claim features – more innovative, more efficient, of higher value – it does not have. It must not influence or manipulate buyers and users.

Good design is durable
It is nothing trendy that might be out-of-date tomorrow. This is one of the major differences between well-designed products and trivial objects for a waste-producing society. Waste must no longer be tolerated.

Good design is thorough to the last detail
Thoroughness and accuracy of design are synonymous with the product and its functions, as seen through the eyes of the user.

Good design is concerned with the environment
Design must contribute towards a stable environment and a sensible use of raw materials. This means considering not only actual pollution, but also the visual pollution and destruction of our environment.

Good design is as little design as possible
Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Optimize user registration

Too many websites still force users to register without good reason, or provide an ineffective registration process. You can avoid frustrating users on your website by thinking about the following points:

1. Ask users to login or register only when necessary
Those parts of a website that aren't personalized should be equally accessible by registered and non-registered users. Only ask people to login or register when it's required to complete an action, not earlier.

2. Make registration optional where possible
Customers shouldn't have to 'create an account' in order to buy products from an online shop. If a site needs to remember simple previously entered information, this can also be done by using a cookie, which of course requires no effort from the end user.

3. Prominently explain the benefits of registration
Users will be happier to register if they know that they're getting something useful, rather than if registration is seen as a barrier between them and their task.

4. Avoid lengthy registration forms
Another source of frustration comes from questions in registration forms that look irrelevant to the task in hand. Remove such questions and explain the rest e.g. "We need your phone number to notify you in case your flight times change."

5. Consider progressive registration
This means asking only the bare essentials in the beginning (e.g. an email address and a password), and enabling users to update and complete their full profile at a later stage.

Source: webcredible.co.uk

Native to the Internet

It would be hard to find or point out what is "native to the internet" since this entire digital world is based on metaphors of the real world, things we use and do on daily basis. It’s the real "physical" thing being customized, tailored and "digitized"; for instance, it’s all about using a digitized versions of: files, folders, papers, pages, archives, clips, desktop, attachments, copy and paste, editing, searching, templates, filing system, etc. The library, for instance, is the foundation of that archiving system as Rhodes and Sawday observed; the early systems of manuscripts and private/elite libraries pre Gutenberg where people –the ones who could afford and thirsty enough for knowledge– used to travel cross Europe to grasp information scattered in the layers of these valuables documents and scripts. Hyperlinks could undeniably have evolved from libraries indexes where information was listed by topics and themes; instead of ‘clicking’, you needed to walk around to the right/desired aisle amongst the high stacked shelves, or open the right/needed cards’ drawer. Alphabetical and chronological indexes could also be another old version of hyperlinks, using your thumb to separate all the topics starting with “A”, all the events on “March”, etc. Taking menus and pull-down menus as another example, it sparks the idea of being an imitation, an evolved version, of scrolls and ‘letters’ between kingdoms, war chiefs, lovers, governmental sanctions, etc; it is a form of hierarchy –alphabetical, chronological and status– of accessing information from top to bottom (the examples in mind: alphabetical indexes, calendars, written text [whether from left to right or right to left, it’s always from top to bottom], etc) which have become a standard taken for granted (ever imagined a calendar where December is high above January?). Eventually, these examples are amongst heaps that do constitute multimedia as well as being part of multimedia; not as indigenous or native in the true meaning of the terms, yet they are the foundation of the endemic internet.

Techno-Food

Technology and food has always been a long debate: food pills and genetically modified food (meat, vegetables and fruits) do exist before some of us were even born! From another perspective, the whole world populations used to be farmers, growing their own food; how many farmers do you know? Hardly any! How many modern farmers – modern farmer referring to any information and/or technology related practitioner/individual, who is taking part in cultivating technology – do you know???

In a way, it sheds some light on the future of online meals ordering. However, it is a simple example of how our lives, as individuals, are being recorded; each one of us is digitized, a digital number in cross-multi databases. GPS (global positioning systems) are no longer microchips injected under spies’ skins; they exist in our mobile phones, cars, portable computers, credit cards, etc; where we are, with whom, what we are buying, using, etc. Eventually, a digital profile for each individual will exist (it already does), it would list your preferred and/or favourite restaurant, drinks, groceries, cloths and shoes brands, books, weekends’ runaways, your medical records, vital signs, social interaction status, the list is endless.

Violence and adult content!

Banned computer and video games are another aspect of ‘on the edge’ of the media; some would argue that media is a double edge sword, although we all would agree that its benefits are way more than its vices; just like the internet allowed pornography to be accessible and widespread; or terrorists claims, demands, threats and messages of kidnappings; or use of mobile and emails for school bullying (there even is a game on school bullying!); etc. I guess the issue here is the set of rules and regulations standardize by governments and most importantly, social behaviour as well as individuals and families nurture in respect to ethics, values and norms. It is also worth mentioning the lack of convenient decisions/rules based on appropriate and relative research: Graffiti is a form of art, "freedom of expression" which if ever given the opportunity of providing art spaces (i.e. Canada) there would be a notable decrease in demand on such games. Australia is not the only country to ban similar violent and/or adult video games, censorship is also applied in New Zealand, China (for disrespecting Chinese culture and history), and Greece (any type of video game is illegal!) to name a few.

Why would there be adult content in children’s games from the first place? Why would they design "coffees" and code them in a findable/accessible way? When I think about it, the designers of the game are very aware of the market and are targeting these teens/users from different angles, violence (unrestricted violence in doing/applying everything the society would stand against) and adult content; both angles are highly desired, addictive, and rewarding to that specific group age despite the un-ethicality.

Should really make us think! Are we, as consumers of media, unable to distinguish from the virtual and the real world?

I would say… Yes and No… for a whole set of reasons.

What do you guys reckon???

Digital Cultures

Gerard Goggin’s ‘The Internet, online and mobile cultures’ was quite a read. Goggin is interpreting the status of media in the Australian context, focusing on Australian corporations leading the way and/or taking part in sharing the pie; his concerns are related to Poster’s discussion of ‘the dominant English on the internet’ since English should not be entitled to the ‘American power’. Media in general are mostly governed, ruled and/or operated by American policies, a fact commonly acknowledged with the example of the media of TV/news: propagandas of the superiority of one nation, one perspective and the indirect/hidden aims of its own interests. Another example also highlighted by Poster on multiculturalism, is the relation of the second media generation and ethnicity; in one episode of the Simpsons, it caught my attention when Homer commented on his perspective of the world’s nations (an American understanding and perception) “Christians, Jews and miscellaneous’ which underlines Poster’s affirmation of the lack of an anti-discrimination set of rules in our societies. Eventually, the internet can be regarded as an illustration of the expression “it’s a small world”, a world where all contributors will keep on shaping it and projecting its future; Goggin’s expresses the internet being an user-generated context, as such, users cannot be limited to one sect, one nation nor one perspective when it’s a tangled network, the individual, the family, the community, the nation, the world.

Another point worth indicating is Goggin’s discussion on the convergence of media, which Poster discussed years before as converting into a single interactive information industry. Goggin highlights the mobile aspect of the convergence of media, designing media tools to be as much inclusive as possible, iPods, mobile phones, PSP’s, Palm handled PC’s; it can be also discussed that the future of design is ‘services’ design, especially when studying the online communities and social softwares being on top of the spectrum.

Postmodernity

Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century life. Among these features are included globalization, consumerism, the fragmentation of authority, and the commoditization of knowledge.[Wikipedia]

Personally, I would tend to add “technology” as a sect of the above definition for the reason that keeping up and engaging on many levels with technology - its continuous change, development, transformation, expanding, and most importantly its fusion with people’s daily tasks - makes us postmodern. It’s not only physical engagement with technology that counts; mental incentive is the higher drive for synchronising our states, since evolving based on a need and a must is what rendered cave men today’s architects of the future.

Relating postmodernism and multiculturalism, virtual communities are not a replacement of real communities, yet, they complete each other (in a sense) and are related to each others. A simple example, in my humble opinion, is Flickr as one example of social software, forums, academic online discussions (to mention a few) as well as the multiple shapes of communicating socially via technology; not only as a way of bridging time and space in the confinement of a mutual goal, but as a way of strolling in parallel and effectively in communicating any certain message on both the levels of real and virtual.