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Kai Virihaur
A very interesting article. First time I have seen a web site design compared to the design of a Japanese garden. I have designed many web sites – a recent one on “coin collecting”:http://www.coincollectingsecrets101.com for instance – and I’d like to have the privilige of one day designing a Japanese garden. (Right now I am working on a small garden with some elements of the Japanese in it though.) Guess I need to re-read the text to fully grasp the analogy.
I too learned a new lesson today. The story is so inspiring. We may say that one thing is too perfect but how we know if its really perfect when you can’t see both sides of the picture. :)
This all came from Chinese philosophy originally… Of course there is the flip side of the coin, a tale of a man who went to buy a silver serving spoon.
After loking at many ornate ones priced quite reasonably, however all out of the man’s price range, he settled upon a simple plain polished silver spoon.
When he enquired about the price, it was many times the price of the ornate one’s.
After asking why this was so theshop keeper replied: “Sir, this is a simple polished spoon, perfect and flawless in its execution. The others haveguilding, mouldings and engravings in which the artist can hide many mistakes…”
Anabelle
x
“love by birthdate | birthdate compatibility”:http://www.lovebybirthdate.com
Such a Japanese concept. As an artist, I really enjoy the disharmony that one red square on a black background can create, and the jolt of excitement it brings to the veiwer
I’ve always been a fan of what I think of as “pretty ugly”. To me, it’s when something beautiful and perfect is flawed by a clashing color or a lack of balance. To me, it turns something that is so perfect it’s boring into something interesting. Colors that clash and yet look beautiful together. it’s a very difficult concept to articulate, but I think you’ve done a great job.
What’s so special about this plate? Before it was fired, it was perfectly round, but the artist intentionally roughed up the edges. It’s elegant, enhanced by anything that touches its surface: a bright green pear, roughly chopped chocolate, a pile of toasted almonds. Today, this plate sits on the desk in my home office. It symbolizes a crucial lesson about craft: utility is not contingent on perfection of form. In fact, the lessons I’ve learned about crafting elegant experiences—from the creative brief to user interface design—involve abandoning the desire for perfection entirely
“cellulite creams”:http://www.bestcellulitecreams.org
So many of us never follow through or finish anything because it isn’t ‘perfect’. This isn’t a apology or defense for sloppiness or bad work but an acknowledgment that our own judgment of ourselves and our output can be crippling. I know. I used to have that disease myself until I stumbled across the concept of “kaizen”, which simply means improvement, no matter how slight. “Is this copy better than my last effort?” If so, then I define my product as successful. Incremental improvements lead to … magic.
That was an enjoyable article to read. For me, clarity is the first virtue that a professional website design should have, if only because of such an UN-elegant reason like eye strain!! :-)
The second is elegance, or you could call it art, poetry, beauty. Although what beauty is still so difficult to define…
Warmth is the third of my virtues for the best design, but in fact, it goes hand in hand with elegance. Elegance and cold together? I don’t think so.
I am not sure I agree with craigslist being elegant. It has an impressive clarity, but it could easily feel chilly.
“Foreclosure Process Highlights”:http://foreclosureprocesstoday.com
I agree that imperfections make a person think, however, as an editor, I like to direct what a person thinks about. For instance, when I see imperfections on grammar and spelling, I think about the imperfection, and not more interest in the site or product.
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Robin Dew
I know that this is not really saying that you can put anything anywhere and that when you break it down there is an exact art to it but anything that frees me from symmetry is like skinny dipping in the lake on the 18th hole of the US open!
Thanks so much for this. It took me awhile to get it up, but I had to pass this on in a post: http://www.webmarketingtherapy.com/blog/perfection/ This made me think of many ways that the fear of imperfection can hold us back. You were much more eloquent.
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Erik Reppen
From the perspective of a fairly equally-brained front end dev who couldn’t draw or come up with a memorable logo to save his life but still feels the creative rhythm, it’s always struck me how much more natural and fluid the process of converting a design from a good artist tends to go as opposed to overly busy, needlessly tight layouts from those of a more engineering background.
It generally takes a lot fewer elements to get the job done, I always feel better about the site I’m working on and the resulting layout always feels more intuitive and easier to use. Of course, I’m in Chicago and there’s a lot of REALLY good designers in town but I don’t think it’s just that.
When you try too hard to quantify things with prototyping and demos and put all this effort and resource into what ultimately has no other purpose than making management feel artificially connected to a process they will never understand, creation rather than control, you’re killing the potential of a site by ignoring what your own senses and experiences are telling you.
Deny it all you want, but this is first and foremost a craft and that means intuition and personal judgment has to have a place. When does any media start sucking by and large? When people start demanding accountability for the unaccountable. When they try to quantify what will make a game, a song, a movie, a toy or a site popular without really understanding what goes into the thought process from an artistic or development perspective and then finding and repeating a meaningless pattern ad nauseum because they got too hung up on a formula for success.
I saw a big blogfest by a bunch of UX guys talking about how Google’s success wasn’t accounted for by its design, which was bad, apparently. Here’s the thing: I’ve never had a problem using Google. It’s never felt awkward. The elements didn’t need to be clumped together “where the action is” by which I assume they meant the actual search field. What links were placed where never struck me as odd and I think I’ve clicked every link on that old-school Google page at one time or another so I didn’t miss anything. It works. It’s easy and instantly recognizable. I didn’t have to think too hard. It provides a tool to help you solve problems and then gets the Hell out of your way. I’m not surprised to find things where they are. That’s good design.
Hi David, Great blog – I teach sales & website marketing to students/companies – the question I am asked the most by my students is did I get it right? The answer I give often surprises most of my students. Is the customer happy with the goods & are they happy with you? …
In reality the salesmen that recite their scripts to perfection are actually worse salemen than the ones that make a few blunders & appear more natural & imperfect to the customer. Web design is no different – the flaw can sometimes be the making of a site & how the customer remembers you – there is of course a flip side to that…
Lack of attention to detail can in reality kill a site at the worst or make it look sloppy – see “web design mistakes”:http://www.vuzudesign.com/web-design-blog.php?comments=1&aid=51&article=Top+60+Web+Design+Mistakes+of+2009 – one of my students websites is at the very least basic as far as design goes but perfectly formed as far as quick loading – working in any browser and well written for search engines – can’t help thinking though perhaps he hasn’t shown off his creatve skills to potential customer – see “web design cheltenham”:http://www.vuzudesign.com but who’s perfect?
I always wondered why I loved fonts that look like handwriting, hand drawn/scanned illustrations in presentations and slight imperfections. I think they make things a little bit more human.
I never comprehended why. Reading about Wabi Sabi and the mention of shobuye helps a bit. I like the article at several levels and I love the discussion.
45 Reader Comments
Back to the ArticleLizzy Leon
I find myself working towards symmetry but always admire websites, etc that are beautifully asymmetrical. A sort of unconscious ambivalence…
Kai Virihaur
A very interesting article. First time I have seen a web site design compared to the design of a Japanese garden. I have designed many web sites – a recent one on “coin collecting”:http://www.coincollectingsecrets101.com for instance – and I’d like to have the privilige of one day designing a Japanese garden. (Right now I am working on a small garden with some elements of the Japanese in it though.) Guess I need to re-read the text to fully grasp the analogy.
Jeffrey Oliver
I too learned a new lesson today. The story is so inspiring. We may say that one thing is too perfect but how we know if its really perfect when you can’t see both sides of the picture. :)
Anabelle Crimson
This all came from Chinese philosophy originally… Of course there is the flip side of the coin, a tale of a man who went to buy a silver serving spoon.
After loking at many ornate ones priced quite reasonably, however all out of the man’s price range, he settled upon a simple plain polished silver spoon.
When he enquired about the price, it was many times the price of the ornate one’s.
After asking why this was so theshop keeper replied: “Sir, this is a simple polished spoon, perfect and flawless in its execution. The others haveguilding, mouldings and engravings in which the artist can hide many mistakes…”
Anabelle
x
“love by birthdate | birthdate compatibility”:http://www.lovebybirthdate.com
Maneet Puri
.. Perfection is a state of hypothesis. I believe it is very important to have an element of imperfectness so that it looks natural.
Mary Lane
Such a Japanese concept. As an artist, I really enjoy the disharmony that one red square on a black background can create, and the jolt of excitement it brings to the veiwer
Caitlin McAuliffe
I’ve always been a fan of what I think of as “pretty ugly”. To me, it’s when something beautiful and perfect is flawed by a clashing color or a lack of balance. To me, it turns something that is so perfect it’s boring into something interesting. Colors that clash and yet look beautiful together. it’s a very difficult concept to articulate, but I think you’ve done a great job.
Donnie Mack
What’s so special about this plate? Before it was fired, it was perfectly round, but the artist intentionally roughed up the edges. It’s elegant, enhanced by anything that touches its surface: a bright green pear, roughly chopped chocolate, a pile of toasted almonds. Today, this plate sits on the desk in my home office. It symbolizes a crucial lesson about craft: utility is not contingent on perfection of form. In fact, the lessons I’ve learned about crafting elegant experiences—from the creative brief to user interface design—involve abandoning the desire for perfection entirely
“cellulite creams”:http://www.bestcellulitecreams.org
Sydney Johnston
So many of us never follow through or finish anything because it isn’t ‘perfect’. This isn’t a apology or defense for sloppiness or bad work but an acknowledgment that our own judgment of ourselves and our output can be crippling. I know. I used to have that disease myself until I stumbled across the concept of “kaizen”, which simply means improvement, no matter how slight. “Is this copy better than my last effort?” If so, then I define my product as successful. Incremental improvements lead to … magic.
Minna Sital
That was an enjoyable article to read. For me, clarity is the first virtue that a professional website design should have, if only because of such an UN-elegant reason like eye strain!! :-)
The second is elegance, or you could call it art, poetry, beauty. Although what beauty is still so difficult to define…
Warmth is the third of my virtues for the best design, but in fact, it goes hand in hand with elegance. Elegance and cold together? I don’t think so.
I am not sure I agree with craigslist being elegant. It has an impressive clarity, but it could easily feel chilly.
“Foreclosure Process Highlights”:http://foreclosureprocesstoday.com
Arthur Prudent
I creat a few website and have to say Imperfection is OK as far as the website is interesting for the visitors
Kande B
I agree that imperfections make a person think, however, as an editor, I like to direct what a person thinks about. For instance, when I see imperfections on grammar and spelling, I think about the imperfection, and not more interest in the site or product.
Amy Guenther
I agree, too much sameness lends a site to boredom for a user, especially a user seeking a social experience.
Robin Dew
I know that this is not really saying that you can put anything anywhere and that when you break it down there is an exact art to it but anything that frees me from symmetry is like skinny dipping in the lake on the 18th hole of the US open!
Robin
Tom Leo
Really like the anecdote, this article is inspiring.
Amber Wallace
Hi David,
Thanks so much for this. It took me awhile to get it up, but I had to pass this on in a post: http://www.webmarketingtherapy.com/blog/perfection/ This made me think of many ways that the fear of imperfection can hold us back. You were much more eloquent.
:-)
Erik Reppen
From the perspective of a fairly equally-brained front end dev who couldn’t draw or come up with a memorable logo to save his life but still feels the creative rhythm, it’s always struck me how much more natural and fluid the process of converting a design from a good artist tends to go as opposed to overly busy, needlessly tight layouts from those of a more engineering background.
It generally takes a lot fewer elements to get the job done, I always feel better about the site I’m working on and the resulting layout always feels more intuitive and easier to use. Of course, I’m in Chicago and there’s a lot of REALLY good designers in town but I don’t think it’s just that.
When you try too hard to quantify things with prototyping and demos and put all this effort and resource into what ultimately has no other purpose than making management feel artificially connected to a process they will never understand, creation rather than control, you’re killing the potential of a site by ignoring what your own senses and experiences are telling you.
Deny it all you want, but this is first and foremost a craft and that means intuition and personal judgment has to have a place. When does any media start sucking by and large? When people start demanding accountability for the unaccountable. When they try to quantify what will make a game, a song, a movie, a toy or a site popular without really understanding what goes into the thought process from an artistic or development perspective and then finding and repeating a meaningless pattern ad nauseum because they got too hung up on a formula for success.
I saw a big blogfest by a bunch of UX guys talking about how Google’s success wasn’t accounted for by its design, which was bad, apparently. Here’s the thing: I’ve never had a problem using Google. It’s never felt awkward. The elements didn’t need to be clumped together “where the action is” by which I assume they meant the actual search field. What links were placed where never struck me as odd and I think I’ve clicked every link on that old-school Google page at one time or another so I didn’t miss anything. It works. It’s easy and instantly recognizable. I didn’t have to think too hard. It provides a tool to help you solve problems and then gets the Hell out of your way. I’m not surprised to find things where they are. That’s good design.
colin brown
KAIZEN meaning small constant improvments is the key word here.
Chris Johnson
Hi David, Great blog – I teach sales & website marketing to students/companies – the question I am asked the most by my students is did I get it right? The answer I give often surprises most of my students. Is the customer happy with the goods & are they happy with you? …
In reality the salesmen that recite their scripts to perfection are actually worse salemen than the ones that make a few blunders & appear more natural & imperfect to the customer. Web design is no different – the flaw can sometimes be the making of a site & how the customer remembers you – there is of course a flip side to that…
Lack of attention to detail can in reality kill a site at the worst or make it look sloppy – see “web design mistakes”:http://www.vuzudesign.com/web-design-blog.php?comments=1&aid=51&article=Top+60+Web+Design+Mistakes+of+2009 – one of my students websites is at the very least basic as far as design goes but perfectly formed as far as quick loading – working in any browser and well written for search engines – can’t help thinking though perhaps he hasn’t shown off his creatve skills to potential customer – see “web design cheltenham”:http://www.vuzudesign.com but who’s perfect?
Alex Stack
Great article. thank you
wdc
Truly a very inspiring article.The approach of asymmetrical design to gain perfection is true in many sense.
Great Article…..thanks again
sunstreak
Great article. Living in Japan I could really see the ideas of Wabi-sabi that are being mentioned.
The Golden Ration is also a wonderful idea to incorporate into the equation of designing through balancing perfection/imperfection.
i-ex
We made russian translation of this article:
“КраÑота неÑовершенÑтва”:http://www.internet-expert.ru/news/articles/155/
Mark Carter
Wonderful to encounter Wabi-Sabi in this context. Yes, really nice thinking about ‘heart’ in the context of web design.
Much food for thought … thanks for the great post.
dorait
I always wondered why I loved fonts that look like handwriting, hand drawn/scanned illustrations in presentations and slight imperfections. I think they make things a little bit more human.
I never comprehended why. Reading about Wabi Sabi and the mention of shobuye helps a bit. I like the article at several levels and I love the discussion.