Is Technology Too Design Focused?

| Sunday, July 17, 2011
By Eric James


Certainly one of the defining aspects of developments in devices hasn't been manufacturing advances but style and design. Whilst anyone can argue that technology and design developments go hand in hand, it is also easy to see how design dominates customer habits. Still, this is not something new since industrial production allowed producers to offer cheaper products with the onus on design rather than functionality. Case in point, the paper clothing of the Sixties were very cheap and of a bad quality but for many fashionable consumers they were must have wardrobe items.

This process carries on today. Phone producers continually push and pull on the dichotomy of design vs functionality. A lot of manufacturers choose simple designs and rely instead on feature development. Lots of others choose to offer fewer features and instead focus on design, sometimes even collaborating with celebrities.

With such a focus on design over usability, it is easy to think of technology products solely as design orientated but it's important to remember that such devices are meant to have functional benefits as well. When making your choice of what product to buy there is always three different factors that you must weigh up - cost, design and features. Sometimes you might want to spend more on design or features. At other times they are incorporated. Apple's design ethos is an excellent example of design converging with technology.

If you always go for the design aspect when buying products then you should start to think about the functional factor too. Whilst it might be tempting to purchase the coolest design, it may not be the best performing. You should always look at the functions of the product and how you will be using it. There is little point getting a really flash computer if all you do is send emails or surf the net.

Thus, when buying new products, always think about how or why you need it. An example of this is e-book readers (such as the Amazon Kindle). These have practical uses in real life as well. For instance, loads of airlines now limit passengers to a single piece of hand luggage. An e-book reader is a lot smaller than your average book and you are able to take a lot more books with you when you go on holiday than you might otherwise be able to.

Phones are a good example of improved technology functions. You may be able to use your cell phone for all your media needs. Many phones now feature large memories letting you save videos, pictures and music. Lots of phones now have digital cameras as well, meaning you don't have to buy a separate, expensive camera. The Internet is no different. Plenty of websites have been designed with functionality and usability as the focus. You can find sites that have been designed to allow you to plan your online time much better. They range from a bookmarks site, password keeper and personalized homepage.

A bookmarks manager will really save time and change your work process. Unfortunately, many of them have a functional design. It will be interesting to watch how they develop as more and more people expect advanced functionality that is shown in a well designed and aesthetic end product.




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