Where There's Muck, There's Brass - Mark Boulton at Smashing Conference

18 September 2012

In his talk Where There's Muck, There's Brass, Mark Boulton asks how digital products age over time and urges us to build more sustainable designs.

Different taps - let a tap be a tap - why do people try to arbitrarily reinvent a simple two-knob process for the sake of design?
Designers are assholes sometimes. They try to reinvent the wheel
Design is honesty. Truth. Not bullshitting users.
Skeumorphism festering everywhere like a virus. Let it be what it is. Don't make it wood, it's not a bookcase! A common argument in defense of skeumorphism is "well, old people." You don't automatically drop a bunch of IQ points as soon as you hit a certain age.
Trends are bullshit. If you want to be in a trendy industry, go work in fashion, not web design.
Are you building something of worth? And are you building something sustainable?
Reductionist process. The simpler you get, the more obvious the cracks get.
How do physical objects age?

Patina

Seasoning a wok seals in the flavor. Over time seasoning builds up and gives flavor to the food. This is known as "breath of wok".
Jeans patina - don't wash new jeans for 6 months and they wear in a more natural way.
Films that have gotten better over time. Jaws: because of the technical shark malfunctions, they resorted to using sound therefore creating a far more suspenseful movie. Alien is another movie that uses music, tension and silence to create a more authentic experience that has gotten better over time.
How do digital products age? Pixels are cheap.

Designing web sites is a fucking messy business.
"Bob Ross is the reason I'm a designer." It's all about happy accidents.
"Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face." Mike Tyson
The design process is weird and complicated because it involves people, who are weird and complicated.

Sketch sketch sketch - quickly iterate in a very efficient.
Use what tools give you the least headwind.
What are the materials of the web? What is your content made of?
Certain typefaces are designed with the quality of the material they're going to be printed on.

How can we create digital experiences that stand the test of time?
Incremental improvements create more sustainable design
1% Improvements - Improve, iterate, change quickly.
We like to think the web is like our dog. Sit. Roll Over. We just give it commands. It's more subtle, like a cat.
Let's be authentically digital. The authenticity doesn't come from the UI, it comes from the stuff the web is made of.