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Lesson Five Lecture: Beauty and the Principles of Design

We sometimes underestimate the elegant way things around us are designed. Especially in the Western world, our lives are so convenient and full that we often miss the excellence all around us.

Design involves the quality of the planning and structure of anything that is created. It embraces the active process of design that goes into every created object. And it includes the property or the “presence” of design once an object is in existence.

Some items stand out for their excellent design. Scandinavian furniture. Italian high-performance sports cars. Irish crystal.

Some items stand out for their lack of excellence in design. Examples abound, especially in the public sector, and it serves no purpose to malign them here.

Design influences the processes as well as the products we encounter every day. It influences Web sites, bank teller lobbies, hotel checkout procedures, assembly line configurations, and the host of real world obstacles and enablers we engage continuously.

Every solution to a problem, innovative or bureaucratic, is the result of a design process. Each time human creativity is applied to a problem or opportunity, design emerges.

So to the extent that we have a pleasant experience with a product or a process, we can testify to the excellence of its design. To the extent that we have an unpleasant experience, we readily testify to the poor quality of its design as well.

We may not think of it exactly this way, but the quality of products and processes around us depends largely on their adherence to the principles of design. We can evaluate almost any created object, material or intangible, according to design principles.

Unity – The sense that the elements of a designed object fit together.
Indicators of a unity problem: Lack of focus; bosses or subordinates pulled too many directions; disloyalty; scattered priorities.

Variety – Differences and diversity within the elements of a created object.
Indicators of a variety problem: Boredom, stagnation, predictability, blandness.

Balance – Sense of symmetry and equilibrium with the elements of a designed object.
Indicators of a balance problem: Burnout, starvation of creative energy, fanaticism, inequality.

Emphasis – Creation of prominence with a focal point, highlighting or stressing certain elements in a designed object over others.
Indicators of an emphasis problem: Most emphasis problems result from placing too much emphasis on one area or element, to the detriment of another. Examples: too much emphasis on speeding tickets, not enough on stopping violent crime; too much emphasis on political correctness, not enough on security; too much emphasis on material wealth, not enough on quality of life.

Rhythm – The sense that elements are moving “through” a designed object.
Indicators of a rhythm problem: bottlenecks, languishing, fear of movement.

Proportion – Relative size and scale of elements in a designed object.
Indicators of a proportion problem: Favoritism, over- or under-production, “haves” and “have nots”

Discussion Questions:
Please review the following questions and post your responses here by pressing “add a reply.”

1. From this lecture and your reading of the course e-booklet, does it seem like the principles of design can be manipulated? Why or why not? Should they be?

2. Like every created object, this lecture is governed by the principles of design. Critique it using those principles.