“Beauty Is Less Important Than Quality”
There’s a grain of truth to this statement, but that’s about it. Yes, it’s absolutely maddening when you buy something that’s stunningly beautiful but that just doesn’t work. It may be marginally less frustrating to buy something that works but that is offensive to the eyes, but that’s not enough in our eyes to justify ranking function absolutely above form.
Statements like the title of this post are the reason why cities have ugly buildings that most residents use, but don’t enjoy. They’re the reason why so many workplaces and schools have durable, long lasting uniforms that are uniformly hated by the people who are forced to wear them. But why do we still accept statements like this? Because it’s easy, it’s less time consuming, and it’s often more profitable to do so.
Here at Amplify Media, we don’t find any of this acceptable. We reject the idea that beauty is less important than quality not because we think quality is in any way unimportant, but because we think ignoring aesthetics is lazy. We see the quality of the design as an integral component of the quality of the overall creation. If something works perfectly, but is unattractive and unwelcoming, in our eyes it’s a poor quality creation. A beautiful creation will be more enjoyable for the user, and will likely remain in use longer. Perhaps most importantly, building beautiful creations gives us pride in our work, and that pride makes us strive harder to create even more beautiful and functional projects in the future.
(Today’s title quote courtesy of Eugene Ormandy.)
