“To clarify, add detail. Imagine that, to clarify, add detail. Clutter and overload are not attributes of information, they are failures of design. If the information is in chaos, don’t start throwing out information, instead fix the design.”

Edward Tufte tells why more is more in his discussions of ‘Interface design and the iPhone’.  The video he has posted is particularly interesting as he demonstrates how adding detail increases the clarity of a message, or in this case the ability of a mobile phone handset to perform better when delivering all messages to the user by minimizing computer admin debris and maximizing the amount of relevant data that is displayed.

If the iPhone has already transformed what people consider to be a ‘good user experience’ on a mobile phone then Tufte has wasted little time showing us how it could be better still. But does that mean that Apple’s efforts to use increased screen resolution to improve the clarity of type and images rather than to add more information are misplaced? I think it depends on what your preferences are, and the answer is to provide a choice – zoom in to see more detail,  simply extending Tufte’s point that screen information becomes the interface.

The point he makes so well is not specific to the mobile phone and, as ever, he makes us think about the application of this across all the design work we deliver regardless of the media. It’s not about detail, it’s about good design.

The recent Independent on sunday design suppliment article it’s got to be perfect sees Clare Dwyer Hogg ask several important product/interior designers to pick a ‘perfect design’ (that isn’t one of theirs). It’s a fun question and got me thinking (not that I’d have to exclude my own work with any difficulty just yet).

Trouble is I’m not sure I can pin it down to one particular, er… thing, and then say ‘that’s my favourite’, it seems a bit broader than the usual . 

Tonight though, I suddenly realised that I know exactly what it is and so I say with conviction it is the Ferrari 250 GT California. I love old cars and italian design so this does it for me, it has to be the ultimate combination of the two . Carrozzeria Scaglietti’s  interpretation of the Pinin Farina design is about as pure as it gets.  The point here for me, is that if you go after beauty, quality and performance in your work (as Scagletti & Farina did) then you won’t go far wrong.  Compromise can be a horrible thing.

Perhaps it’s a bloke thing, but it never gets tiring the ‘what’s your top 10 / top 5 / favourite things game does it!

Apple classics and their 1960s ancestors - The (fairly)recent article in The Guardian compares the design influences of 2 great product designers, Dieter Rams responsible for the minimalist Braun products from the 1950′s and Jonathon Ive, Apple’s acclaimed designer responsible most recently for iPhone.

As the article points out, no one is accusing Ive of copying Rams, rather it further reinforces the point that simple, clean, unfussy design is timeless. We couldn’t agree more.

If you Wikipedia Swiss Design, you get the following description:
“Swiss Design refers to a graphic design style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s that emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity. Hallmarks of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk, and flush left, ragged right text…”
This fits well with popular understanding of the typical swiss design style, which is why my recent experience of Swiss design work was so surprising.

Visiting Basel in north-west Switzerland the Fasnacht carnival takes place each year on the Monday after ash Wednesday marking the start of Lent. It is a chance for the city to indulge in some very atypical revelry where the people of the town exercise the traditional carnival right to speak out on any issue they like.  This is done though amazing processions (starting at 3am on Monday morning and lasting solidly for 3 days) where intricate design work satirizes domestic and international issues – religion, immigration policy, drug use, smoking… through to the (sometime deceased) British queen mother?!

An amazing visual spectacle which dispels any myth that the Swiss are all boring types.

Some of my favourite visuals: