When bad design is good design, and vice versa

Looking good comes later. First comes the real design.

The door handle suggests pull, but it’s a door that requires pushing.

The multicoloured towel looks cool, but the microfibre takes two wipes on every spot to dry you.

The coffee cup has a handle, too small for your hands to use.

Imagine a website homepage. It’s beautiful, certainly very pleasing to the eye. A designer has declared it on-brand and perfectly executed, which it is, of course. To spec, it’s developed perfectly, a win. Almost Steve Jobsesque, you could say.

But it sucks.

Let’s say a person visiting for the first time asks “What is this and what’s in it for me?” and cannot answer that question. Has this perfectly designed homepage done its job then? Of course not. It has failed, and failed poorly.

Design-wise it’s perfect, like a door handle can be perfect, a towel can be beautiful and the coffee mug looks good on Instagram. But it falls completely flat on its purpose.

Sometimes bad design is good.

Give me a simple door I know works on push, an ugly towel that just dries, and a coffee cup that lets me enjoy its purpose, the coffee, after all.

Looking good comes later, first comes the real design.