Lately I've been thinking about what makes good and bad design. I always strive for and embrace simplicity in my design style. Frustrated by years of navigating poor web sites I have realized that the net should be about finding information, second it should be about good design. The two components can work harmoniously, but it takes a good designer to pull it off.
Recently Joshua Porter wrote a great article on 5 principles to design by. He states:
The litmus test. When people enjoy Art, they say "I like that". When people enjoy Design, they say "That works well". This is not by accident. Good Design is something that works well.
That's just it! Good design is something that works well. Many web sites are difficult for visitors to find information and government web sites are infamous for this. While a government web site cannot be expected to have flashy graphics or elegant lines, it can reflect good design in simplicity. Imagine if the site was simple enough that you could actually find what you are looking for! Take for example the Canada Revenue Agency web site (which is actually one of their better *cough* websites):
Note the narrow format of the site. It's compressed down to about 600 pixels across the entire screen even when the majority of users have at least 970 pixels of space available. While simplicity is often found in white space, this site has it in the wrong places. Although the right hand side has an infinite amount of white, the content is tight and difficult to read.
The menus are also jammed together and have lines running together. Again there is no sense of white space and proportion. The typography choice is bland and offers both a lack of scale and style. Since most of the typography found on the page is the same size it makes things cramped. All of this leads to the feeling of a sprawling site, a lack of simplicity and poor design. This design is frustrating for visitors and does not optimize the web site's potential. They've taken the stance of making everything visible on their homepage, but that doesn't mean it should be there.
Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication
Taking one more quote out of Joshua's article:
As Saint Exupery said, “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Simplicity is treading a line: knowing what to keep and what to throw away…it comes across as magic when it works, because none of the complexity is transferred to users…only simplicity. That is the highest achievement for a designer.
Knowing when you have reached the point of perfection is probably one of the most challenging aspects of design. That fine line is what we're striving to find at Simple Station.