Design & Aesthetics

Although design objects have been and still are created to serve a function and perform well, they also have to look or feel nice. Aesthetic pleasure in the context of designed artifacts is a reflection of how well the designer did his or her job. This chapter argues that designers should aim at resolving conflicts in order to arrive at a beautiful design. These conflicts can be of different kinds, but always entail a tension between—metaphorically speaking—needs for safety and accomplishment. Various aesthetic principles, such as unity-in-variety, Most Advanced Yet Acceptable, and Maximum Effect for Minimal Means, are proposed that all follow this logic of striking a careful balance between opposing forces. The chapter concludes with some speculative suggestions on how this safety-accomplishment framework could also be used to predict the aesthetic pleasantness of design ideas, concepts, and consequences.