As a preface to this post: I am not a designer. I appreciate what I deem as good design and I enjoy objects, but I am not a designer by profession or practice. That being said, Philippe Starck is a designer. A fantastic, interesting, groundbreaking designer. I found this short video interview on Engadget. My favorite line from the interview: when presented with a pair of "modern" headphones "It's not design. It's marketing."
Design gets a lot of lip service. The general public is becoming aware of design now more than ever. Just go to your local Urban Outfitters and strike up a conversation about post-modernist loft furniture and watch the mob of Barnes & Noble-educated designers form. But design is more than looking pretty. Design is (in my opinion) more about function than art.
Writing and design are analogous. Writing is a battle between essential material and needless verbiage. The best writers are those that make every word important. There are no superfluous phrases or indulgent vocabularies. Just information well told.
Design/writing is the process of removing unnecessary parts. Design should work simply. And writing should communicate simply. Simple.
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