This “motto” is a commonplace for many designers. And it’s often perceived as a bad habit. Especially for product design. However, every product has to give you some sort of delight. Either by being highly usable, by visual appeal or in the best scenario by being both.
I received my new VOID watch today. Designed by Swedish designer David Erricson. In order to fulfill his “artistic” intention, he had to come up with a new solution for presentation of time.
In comparison with standard watch layout, his solution is less familiar, it has to be learned and it requires more effort to use it. Still, VOID watches are considered beautiful and well designed by many people including me. Simply because it is an absolute delight to look at them. Their smooth shapes and lines together with quality materials are more then a tradeoff to necessity of learning how to use them.
I think, that this applies to UI design too. We should not design just usable products, we should strive for delightful experience.
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