Had you asked me not so long ago what I thought was the most important characteristic of a design, I would have praised the invisible and downplayed the importance of what meets the eye. But that would have been short-sighted, disrespectful and just plain wrong.

Short-sighted, because design is much more than what any one designer does best or enjoys doing the most.

Disrespectful, both to the people using those designs and the designers who actually care to grace their designs with fabulous visual touches, alike.

Plain wrong, because regardless of all the problem solving work you put into a design, if you didn’t bother to give it that final touch, you haven’t really set it up for success.

Let me clarify.

Designers know, but others shouldn’t care

As people who practice design and have the privilege to be paid for doing it, we have the best idea about all the work that goes into designing good, successful products. We know products are all about solving problems, helping people reach their desired outcomes and giving them their time back, because time is arguably the most valuable and scarcest resource on our hands. We also know good designs are accessible, context aware and localised. Great designs are intuitive, forgiving and try to predict our next move, in order to help us become more efficient. They know us, adapt to us and supercharge our powers.

However, should it so happen that there is more than just one such product being offered, and those products don’t differ much in terms of their respective capabilities of getting the job done, buyers’ decision will unavoidably be influenced by how the products appear from the outside. And they will be inclined to give precedence to the product with a better look & feel. It’s just a fact — beautiful things are easier to use.

So, regardless of how much a designer might enjoy and appreciate the challenge of solving real problems, they would be best advised not to easily dismiss the importance of what they might consider “eye candy” or “fluff”.

It’s irrational to think humans are rational

But hey, don’t listen to me. You’re welcome to stick to your arguments about people taking the time to carefully consider all of your product’s features and great UX solutions. I’ll just leave this here and add that you are probably giving humans way too much credit. True, the human brain is superb in what it can do, but people are still primarily emotional, and not rational beings. (There is also a great book on the subject, which I warmly recommend you to read, if you haven’t already.)

People are biologically and evolutionary predetermined to judge everything around them primarily by appearance. It’s just easy for us that way. We form so many opinions based onfirst impressions — and so many decisions are later influenced by those initial impressions — that some might find it terrifying or disappointing.

The wise ones will instead see that as a huge opportunity and make sure to make their — or their products’ — first impressions count.

Unless you are privileged (or cursed) with the fact that people must use your product and your product alone and they simply don’t have a choice, you would be wise to leverage the fact that their decisions hinge so much on what they see.

And just to be clear, flashy looks can hardly ever truly compensate for bad functionality or lack thereof. In order to be successful, a design has to have both. Otherwise, it’s not better than an empty bag of chips.

Very, very disappointing.
But when there’s actual chips in that bag, it’s the full package.

Big thanks to Marin Mikulic for inspiring me to start writing on a regular basis. This article is a result of my trying to write at least 100 words every day. Go check Marin’s stuff, he is incredibly sharp and talented, both as a writer and designer!