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I think people tend to forget about all the things in our world that are invisible, but keep our lives going. Like, does anyone actually care what the frame of

I think people tend to forget about all the things in our world that are invisible, but keep our lives going. Like, does anyone actually care what the frame of their house looks like? Could they pick a fuel injector out of a bin of car parts? Any attention to the visual appeal of these objects is wasted effort. Some things need to just do a job.

ncmncm 6y ago
It is worse than that. Often the particular choices made for "visual appeal" actively detract from correct function. Designers notoriously insist on sans-serif typefaces, despite their objectively lower legibility. Most phone browsers and messagers make it impossible to select a face where lower-case L and upper-case i can be distinguished, thus: "lIIlllIlII". (Maybe they even differ slightly in your view, but which is which?) It amounts to contempt for users. Stewart Brand reported that Architectural Digest readers almost unanimously rejected a suggestion that their annual awards incorporate a measure of users' satisfaction with the building. Contempt for victims of designer malpractice is not just common, it is built into institutions.