Another article where the author doesn't understand the differences between "design" and "style." Frank Lloyd Wright summed up the definition of "design" completely when he said "Form follows function." Any "design" that goes beyond that simple definition becomes - "style." Which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with function, but is all about creating perception and all the biases that the human mind can create within that topic.
To use your example - Apple products are created to be visually more about "style" than function. If you're more than 6 feet tall, have large hands and tried to use a cramped Apple laptop keyboard you might understand this - it's a design compromise with style. If you've been with friends showing their favorite photos on the high glare iPad screen you understand the popular criticism of the iPad - "Too big for your pocket and too small to share." - especially if you standing to one side of the iPads high glare screen. That's another design compromise for style sake at the expense of overall function. Apple's visual style and functionality contradictions and design compromises aside, they have "designed" a highly functional user software interface OS that is better than their competition and that has ultimately driven their products far more than any shallow perception that they only look cool.
These days, even hospitals want to be more “user friendly.”
Dropping design lingo isn’t the only cue that businesses are taking to make products and services more appealing to a design savvy market. More organizations are adopting design as good business practice and looking to firms like IDEO and Frog to design systems and processes.
What’s causing public and private organizations to embrace design? Because businesses are getting better at delivering great design, consumers increasingly expect to find great design everywhere, and thanks to companies like Apple, design is trendy.
As superstar designer Yves Behar tells Jessica A. Lessin of the Wall Street Journal, “Steve Jobs has definitely given us credibility in the business world…I see every segment of the economy being very concerned about design.”
Lessin writes that design firms are developing solutions for private schools, health care, non-profit organizations, and medical companies. The growing emphasis on and understanding of design are helping design firms broaden their influence and increase their value beyond products.
Design Firms Go Beyond Gadgets as Portfolios Expand [WSJ]
Image: Manh Hung Tran/Flickr
