I am glad I got to watch Edward Tufte’s video on interface design on the iPhone before I began work on my interface application design because he gave me many things to be aware of.
I am aware that great design is usually about simplicity. Tufte, being a father of information design, takes it further and makes it about information. I agree with a lot of his points and I want to investigate more of his work. I strongly believe that content is important and that it should speak for itself. Tufte rages against bad design choices, what he calls the Lowest Common Denominator for Design, in that it dumbs-down both the content and the audience. When the design gets in the way of information the information isn’t clear and can be poorly understood. That equals poor design. We’ve all seen this not only in our projects for class, but on websites and products. Often when people complain about products they are really complaining about a design issues, because it can impact functionality.
I most recently experienced this earlier in the semester when I tried using a Kindle, a gift from my brother. I found parts of it difficult to use and the process of reading PDFs and highlighting and taking notes extremely frustrating. When recounting my problems with the device to a friend, she responded that maybe my real problem was with the interface, and that I might have found the Nook easier to use — a point at the time I found very interesting. A big Apple fan, she said she could not understand how to work Android phones, another reason which kept her solidly shelling out money to Apple. The iPhone’s grid was so intuitive to her that any other designs kept her flummoxed.
I do not have a smartphone and so only have passing familiarity with smartphone interfaces, so I could not understand what issues she had with Android phones. By now, the iPhone (and now iPad) design is well known even to people who don’t own these products, and so that type of swipe is becoming a standard. I’ve found, even in just my beginning research for this project, that my lack of knowledge on smartphones has hampered my designs, or at least it feels that way. I agree very much with the idea of controls, or limits on a project — it actually helps focus creativity and productivity.
Tufte both praised and criticized Apple in this video. While this was made in 2008 and thus there have been several more versions of the iPhone in the ensuing four years, I cannot clarify what has changed and if Apple has changed any of the designs that he didn’t care for (like the white grid for the picture slideshow); however, much of the iPhone’s interface has stayed the same, so the video is still very much relevant.
He had a number of quotes that I found instructional: “To clarify, add detail.” I am generally a fan of detail; my writing and my speaking and my personality overall incorporates a lot of detail, too much for some. But I feel it’s often necessary; it gives flavor, it helps tell the story. “Clutter and overload are not attributes of information, they are failures of design,” he said. “Fix the design, don’t throw out the information.” Broadly speaking, this can be applied to different types of design — like interior decorating — or even in constructing an argument or a story. Maybe I should pin these quotes on a posterboard or on Pinterest.
When most people open up an app or read or view something online, they are focused on the content — or they should be. Design helps present something attractively and can help tell the story or provide information to the user. I really do hope to internalize these theories, if I haven’t already, and put them to practice.
P.S. I also share his hate of PowerPoint, for the same reasons.