from Hacker News

Good Design vs. Great Design

by gymshoes on 9/18/21, 8:19 PM with 24 comments

by armchairhacker on 9/18/21, 9:49 PM
Strange figurative wording aside, I think the author is reiterating that, in order to go "above and beyond" and stand out from the competition, you have to create something novel and radical. And directed more towards art and creative fields.
"Good design" is following all the classic design tips. Like a material website that implements material design correctly, is good design. And this is actually OK and better than "great design" for most situations.
"Great design" needs to stand out. And the only way to stand out is to do something weird. Take some fancy website made out of ASCII: not something you should write your IT software in, but maybe good for a portfolio.
Radical "great design" is really good for art and music: almost nobody cares about a beautiful portrait, people want something strange and creative. It's really bad for software architecture "design": when writing code, you practically never want to stray from the obvious, traditional path. For UX design and websites it's somewhere in the middle, and depends on what the software is for (e.g. business solution UX is less creative, video game is more creative UX).

by karmakaze on 9/18/21, 10:07 PM

TL; DR [without the labels]

  is usable.            challenges.
  solves problems.      enriches the soul.
  functional.           is fulfilling.
  is invisible.         is in your face.
  is good process.      is usually messy.
  is familiar.          is uncomfortable.
  optimizes.            discovers.
  is consistent.        is unexpected.
  follows patterns.     sets the new patterns.
  is understandable.    opens new vistas.
  is clear.             leaves room for interpretation.
  gets out of the way.  has something to say.
  is for all.           is for you.

You can decide for yourself which is better.

by croes on 9/18/21, 9:01 PM
I prefer good design.
by freefaler on 9/19/21, 9:24 AM
Interface design has a utilitarian purpose, it's not "art", it's like a hammer, a handy tool to complete a task. However, some designers think they are "artists" and they need to "stand out" from the crowd and get some "design" award. Making good tools that help people with their life is a fulfilling pursuit in itself. Don't torment your users with "great design".
by true_religion on 9/18/21, 10:49 PM
I actually have a lot of criticism for their designs, but I’m going to hold my tongue since they make a calculator app for the iPad and don’t charge money for its or feature creep their way from calculator into social media.
Edit.
Whoops. I spoke too soon.
I downloaded the app, and it says I have a week to decide if I want to pay 14$ a month for it.
A month! For a calculator app!
by designcode on 9/18/21, 10:25 PM
His apps are badly designed wrapped up in loud visual design that’s trying to do / say too much.
Just adding 3d doesn’t mean you’ve stumbled upon a new era of interface design.
by jstummbillig on 9/18/21, 10:14 PM
Good design is getting hired by Google in 2021. Great design is choosing to work for Google in 1998.
by happytoexplain on 9/18/21, 9:23 PM
The "great" side is very vague - it's hard to tell what the author is trying to say.
by pketh on 9/19/21, 3:33 AM
As a designer, I find stuff like this embarrassing, snakeoil-y and insipid. yuck
by the_arun on 9/18/21, 9:58 PM
According to author - Great design describes how to market our failures.
by TheRealNGenius on 9/18/21, 10:22 PM
The navbar is suboptimal. Having a transparent background makes it so black things scrolling by obscure the logo for instance.
by overgard on 9/18/21, 9:34 PM
Great design sounds awful
by sys_64738 on 9/19/21, 12:05 AM
Great design is the sign of the perfectionist. Good design is about shipping product.
by jandorn on 9/19/21, 8:44 AM
Did he replaced good for great by mistake?
by mikewarot on 9/19/21, 5:39 AM
Good design is Heaven
Great design is Hell