Overview
As design has been getting more attention, so has the idea that beauty is a natural outcome of good design. Somehow, it seems beauty can even serve as a benchmark for design. But then what the hell are we really talking about?
Most people, if they think about it at all, would probably agree that beauty is a personal thing — it’s what you like, it’s in the eye of the beholder, it’s cultural, it’s just fashion. But as we dig deeper into what design actually is — what good design means in a broader sense — we find hints that there may be something more interesting going on.
And that’s as far as it usually goes, even for most practicing designers who suspect that beauty is more than skin deep. There are however, some very interesting reasons to take this idea more seriously. This talk examines some of these reasons; the history of this question; and makes the case for having objective grounds to judge the beauty in design. And there’s some really cool airplanes!
Objective
To make a case for there being an objective ground for judging beauty in design.
Target audience
People with an interest in design or philosophy. Or both!
Five things members will learn
- The better we understand beauty, the more useful it becomes.
- Most designers, even great ones, have no idea what they are doing.
- Philosophy is not hard, and is actually quite practical.
- Science is to philosophy as engineering is to design.
- Beauty really is more than just skin deep.
