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September 24, 2006
Form-Over-Function
There exists a dichotomy between functionality and design. The main obstacle is trying to find the right balance between the two; usually one must sacrifice design for functionality or vice versa.
So what do consumers crave? I believe that the average person would sacrifice ease-of-use for a pretty package. I think Apple is a master of design, when it comes to all their products: laptops, computers, mp3 players, etc. They know what the market wants, and that is simplicity and beauty. All their products have dominated the markets, ranging from their iBooks to their iPods. There's a reason that iPod is outselling Sony HD mp3 players, even though Sony is in a better position, straddling both the music and electronics industries.
I personally find most modern remote controls extremely intimidating, and I probably will never ever use 90% of the buttons. More buttons translates to more complexity. So, though the 3rd generation iPod's interface might not be the most user-friendly, it definitely is the most simple, and approachable.
Even Creative Zen, another popular mp3 player, followed suite. The older models of the Zen Touch used to have seperate buttons for all the different functions. The new generatoion Zen Vision stripped all those buttons in favor of 4 large, sleek "zones". Now the new design is simple, and probably less intuitive, but my guess is it will sell better than the Zen Touch.
After all, as Maeda argues, in the end it's all about giving off a "perception" - even if it’s through deception. These basic, combined interfaces give the perception of being easy-to-use, and user-friendly. I'm not arguing that designers should (or do) forgo functionality over form, but that it is less of a priority.
Posted by Yasmin Elayat at September 24, 2006 11:56 PM