One Option for Good Design

There is an endless debate we’re all familiar with: what makes good design good (and, on the flip side, what makes bad design bad). In a field which is so often based on subjectivity, it’s certainly a debate which strikes close to home when it comes to how we judge something we’re presented with.

One option is to consider good design by how closely it fits in to a previously-established aesthetic. Another option is to consider good design by how far it distances itself from a previously-established aesthetic; in other words, it’s originality. Another option still is to consider it by our own personal tastes, and how it aligns with our own personal sense of style. With an exception for option number three, these are all definitions from a designer’s perspective. While these are all true, I can’t help but feel that there’s an alternative definition of what constitutes good design which might end up offering greater clarity and benefits — for the designer and the client — as a result.

Good design is not necessarily something you “like”. It doesn’t have to be in line with your own personal style. In fact, you may completely hate it and come up with a multitude of different reasons why you don’t like a particular piece of design. However, that piece which has given rise to such vitriolic hate may be a piece of brilliant design, for one reason:

Because it raises the perception of it’s content, either absolutely or in relation to its competition. In other words, it works.

A few weeks ago, I was riding the bus home from work and I noticed a new bakery right next to Main Station by the name of Pavilion Pastries opening up in a relatively unimpressive part of town. The signage consisted of several multi-coloured abstract blobs and rectangles, with a script font spelling out the name on top of these blobs. With several curved lamps shining down on the name from above, the bakery seems more in place in a side street of Paris than tucked away in the east end of Toronto. It doesn’t fit into any particular style, and while undoubtedly creative, it’s not earth-shatteringly original; it also doesn’t appeal to my own personal aesthetic. However, careful attention to detail has clearly been paid to its signage and identity, and it shines through because of it’s immediate context.

The stores surrounding Pavilion Pastries consist of sketchy fast food places, variety stores and other similar operations. Besides the legendary Duckworth’s Fish and Chips shop nearby, there isn’t a great deal of outstanding commercial activity going on. So the opening of this new bakery with the lovely signage (I didn’t get a peek at the interior) stands out precisely due to its surroundings. It will likely experience a decent amount of foot traffic because it shares a block with a subway station well-trafficked by thousands of commuters a day, and it’s such a lovingly presented oasis amongst a desert of uninspiring options. If they can offer quality baked goods at a decent price, they’ll make a killing.

But it also makes an absolute statement by paying careful attention to its design, regardless of its geographical situation. The average person, when confronted with two identical options, will more often than not choose the nicer looking one simply because it’s more visually appealing. In some cases, it’s purely a cosmetic reason, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but in most cases design isn’t simply window dressing: instead it embodies the values and reflects the ambitions of the client in question.

In other words, good design equals good business. It’s not an overtly conscience decision, and the business still has to follow through with a quality product, but an attractive appearance will draw in more customers than an unattractive alternative. Even if the chosen aesthetic isn’t even close to the average person’s sense of style, if it’s obvious that care has been put into it, then it will experience a bump in traffic. As the saying goes, nothing kills a bad product like good advertising, and the same can be said for good design as well.

By this logic, good design raises the perceptive quality of its subject, either as an absolute measurement or, more often than not, in comparison to alternatives. Personal style has little bearing on the matter, and while sales aren’t the sole determining factor in a given project’s success, they certainly do justice to the value of design. I’m immensely curious to see if, six months from now, Pavilion Pastries is still around, in sharp juxtaposition to the area around it, as a result to care and attention to detail.

And, of course, a good sense of design.