Who do we design for?

First, an admission of guilt.

I too have spent an excessive amount of time looking for the perfect render of my design to post to Instagram. After working so hard on a project, nobody's going to blame you for taking pride in it. The real problem rears its ugly head when that juicy render starts to consume a little too much of your headspace and you design everything else around it.

It's not uncommon these days for a design firm to receive a commission with the specific instructions that the finished product be utterly and perfectly "instagrammable", a request akin to asking a graphic designer to "make it pop" (I apologize for the cold chill running down your spine). The underlying issue of instagram-ablility is that it has nothing to do with the usability of the design, the benefits to the user, or even the experience of having the dang thing; all that matters on Instagram is that it makes people think:

"Wow, I've never seen that before!" *double-tap, keep scrolling*

And hey, I get it. Maybe they'll dig that slick render of your glass coffee shop so much they'll stop by to take a selfie. Maybe they'll salivate over that oh-so-smooth matte finish on your rebar hairpin legs and actually buy one. But maybe, just maybe, if we focus on the things that make experiencing and using the design a joy? They might just come all the same.

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In defense of luxury.

Allow me to introduce you to my first car: a Mercedes S-Class If only. My actual first car was a clapped-out Chevy Lumina (though she was good to me). But what my car did have were airbags and ABS brakes-- two features that were once considered to be luxury features exclusive to cars like the S-Class, yet somehow found their way onto a car that I bought from my cousin for $800. If it seems like I'm getting somewhere, it's because I'm trying to. Research is expensive. There's not really any way around that unfortunate fact, nor around the equally unfortunate fact that someone has to pay for it. I don't know about you, but I definitely can't afford to. Here's where luxury comes in. If rich people want to pay prices that would make you or I limp at the knees in order to have the latest-and-greatest gadgets and doodads then, hey, they have my best wishes. The money that luxury consumers pay for the honor of being the first to use these newer and better techn

In criticism of criticism.

How many of your ideas are actually yours? And, to that point, how many of them do you even agree with? In the age we currently live, countless writers, critics, and general snobs make their living by giving an opinion on things that most of us have never experienced. If I read a (beautifully written, I might add) movie review by Roger Ebert, I still haven't seen the film. I may have some idea of what it was like to have seen it, but only from the perspective of Mr. Ebert himself. If I then decide to watch the movie, who could say how much different my experience will be for having these ideas preloaded into my head--ideas about whether it is a two or three star worthy film, if I had ought to believe in the characters as written and portrayed, or pointing out the holes in the plot that might otherwise have passed clear over my head. Will I enjoy the film any more or less for having this external knowledge of it? Is it possible that I'll never watch what would have bee

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This article brought to you by (brand name). Or maybe by No Name™. That's what you're seeing there in the yellow: a brand whose whole identity is based on having no brand name. You won't find any Eggo, they only make "original waffles". No Charmin either, just "bathroom tissue". Make no mistake, this campaign of anti-design isn't concerned with actually destroying brand image (they'll happily sell you all the bright yellow merchandise you can carry), they're more so trying to convince you that not having a design somehow puts them on the moral high ground. That, by spending a single cent on marketing or packaging design, all the other companies have duped you and you'd really be a fool not to buy all this plain yellow goodness. It is, of course, just another way to market a brand. To stray from consumer goods and into other areas of anti-design, this is a problem that I've often had with some works of minimalist architecture. I&#

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