In my recent blog post, I mentioned beauty as one of the design trends, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go in-depth with this topic. I tried to research beauty not only from a historical point of view but also in the context of the tech industry with the help of a book by amazing designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh. 

Ask your fellow designers to give you some examples of good design, and they'll show you some tech logos, or maybe some minimalistic clean websites. Ask them how beautiful they find it, and they will tell you that it doesn't matter, it's not what it is about. Good design is about functionality and not about how pretty it looks like, they say. Well, after all, that's what the tech industry is telling us on a daily basis.

Sagmeister and Walsh decided to re-establish the definition of the word beauty and separate it from the negative connotations that have been misapplied to beautiful things in their book "Beauty". They turn to philosophy, history, and science to understand why we are drawn to the beauty and how it influences the way we feel and behave. The message is put forth - beautiful design improves people's lives and beauty can be appreciated by everyone and everywhere.

Modernist devaluation of beauty

Over the last century, beauty was displaced by functionality in design and architecture. The ideas of Modernism are accountable for the devaluation of beauty, and the idea that beautiful work might not be taken seriously, or derided as merely decorative or commercial. As a result, something essential was lost. Beauty not only impacts the way we feel, but it also changes the way we behave. Designers, architects, and artists can have a real impact on the quality of our lives and environments because literally everything is designed.

Ultimately, S&W “believe this rejection of beauty is utterly stupid,” and show how beautiful things function better. For example, if you’re a designer making the case to a client, a beautiful packaging design moves more units. If you’re making the case to a city planner, a beautiful space (be it housing or the neglected area under a highway overpass) makes people happier, more productive, and even less prone to crime.*

We see beauty unconsciously and it's the same for all of us

The most damaging argument against beauty as a goal is the notion that it lies in the eye of the beholder. If everyone uses different criteria and subjective experiences to define and identify beauty, it is just impossible to say what beauty really is, isn't it? The expression "beauty lies in the eye of the beholder" was not created by an ancient philosopher, it did not result from a wide-ranging survey or analysis on aesthetics. It came from a romantic comedy, a 19th-century novel "Molly Bawn".

We actually recognize beauty unconsciously. In the experiment, "beautiful" images were shown to participants for only 1/25 of a second, but still, according to the muscle measuring device, all of the participants' smiling muscles contracted when the beautiful images were shown. What does it mean for us? Beauty is universal.

Tech & Beauty

The product design and the tech industry is about statistics and metrics nowadays, people rely on KPIs and clicks, but in the reality to create something worthy, it is not supposed to be merely functional, but also beautiful. After all, form increases functionality.

For particular examples, we can take a look at Apple. Apple was one of the first tech companies that cared about beauty from the early years of the company's establishment. It was on Steve Jobs's mind all his life, and he clearly subscribed to the idea that beauty is as important as functionality when developing insanely great products. Apple products and packaging have been designed with a high degree of sophistication in mind. Jonathan Ive recalled the making of the iMac stand. One of the manufacturers found it impossible to create the stand as a single piece and suggested a two-part approach that would require a thin seam. It would be hidden behind the screen and remain invisible to most users but Ive and Jobs still found it unattractive and tried to press the manufacturer, who simply refused to do it. Apple then searched for a new manufacturer. After all, it wouldn't be unfair to say that Steve Jobs' entire career can be summed up as the stubborn insistence that the things around us in everyday life shouldn't just be efficient or useful, but also must be beautiful.

Unfortunately, not all tech companies do that. If we compare the biggest mobile applications on the market such as Facebook, Etsy, and Airbnb. Too often these interfaces seem interchangeable even though these companies are in 3 completely different spheres and solve different problems for users. 

Final thoughts

If you want something more statistical, you can even find a mathematical definition of beauty in this book: M = O/C, where beauty (M) is the ratio of Organization to Complexity. In other words, beauty is “the sweet spot between order and chaos.” Beauty lies in the middle, which is more human, and probably why it feels more natural. Beauty means reaching beyond what just works or what is simply pretty. As designers, we have a huge responsibility to make our products not only mere functional but also simple to use and pleasing to look at.

*They cite the results of their own Instagram polls (5000+ respondents), together with the real-deal research and writings of scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians, including Benoit Mandelbrot, John D. Balling, and John H. Falk, Dr. Helmut Leder of the Empirical Visual Aesthetics Lab in Vienna, Hegel, Nietzsche, and philosopher Friedrich Schlegel (whose concept of “the interesting” validates so-called “ugly design” as beautiful), architect Adolf Loos, and of course Louis Sullivan (Mr. “Form follows function”).