The function of beauty in design

I was at the Atlanta Museum of Design in June and shot a few pictures (of course, where would I be without my camera?). Here's a shot of a good quote that conveys a message I have repeatedly heard as well as said in many ways over the years.

Form follows function. Everything should have a reason, don't just put something in because it looks "cool." Good design isn't good because it looks good, it's good because it conveys a message, it communicates effectively. It has a job to do, and that job isn't to hang on a wall looking pretty... even if that's what you want to do with it when it's done.

This is not to take the beauty out of the recipe for a good design. Beautiful women, for example, are subject of the bulk of advertising and fine art, but it's not just because they are beautiful, it's because beauty conveys a message all of its own. It is a tool. When we look at these women we think we can have them or be them. We are, for a split second, that beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, mostly because we are so diverse and we identify with what we find beautiful in everything we see, therefore people see beauty in different things. Out there lies a little piece of something similar to ourselves. The lines of a chair, the bold color of a fabric, an expression of emotion on a face, the strength and grace of a pillar, are all things that we recognize in ourselves. If it's not something that we recognize in ourselves, it's something that we see as missing in ourselves, that we ache to have and be a part of.

That is why beauty is effective as a tool, not a reason. Adding an element because it looks good is different than adding it because of it's particular beauty and appeal to the target market or viewer. Reasonless beauty is distracting. Reasonless anything is distracting. In the end, as Mr. Fuller says above, when it is done right ... it's beautiful (at least in the eye of some beholders).