“I don’t think much about beauty when I work, but if the result isn’t beautiful, it probably wasn’t right.” — Buckminster Fuller
When everything is quantified, beauty is pushed to the periphery. It is confused with decoration, a dispensable luxury, a charming surface that hides whatever is important. This concept of beauty is false. We need beauty at the heart of everything we do. As a mathematician, beauty is one of the highest measures of intelligence. The greatest formulae and theorems are notable for their elegance. Beauty is the guarantee of balance, efficiency, organization, and inventiveness. Nature is beautiful because it keeps getting things right. Even hidden things need beauty. Steve Jobs insisted that even the motherboards inside Apple computers should be beautiful.
Beauty is a persuader. For smart ideas to win out over bad ones, we have to make them smartly seductive. Beauty does that. Beauty takes good and makes it extraordinary. The quickest way to make old solutions look outdated is to make new ones more beautiful. This is why good design is so critical to business solutions. Not only does it have the potential to solve the inner workings of a business (strategy, business model, vision casting, etc.), but it inspires the extraordinary. It makes everything irresistibly attractive.
Chances are, if you wear a dress or suit that you feel attractive in, you’ll present yourself with more confidence and courage. The same is true for your PowerPoint presentations, your printed brochures, your website, or your Instagram feed. It’s also true for your office, building facade, sidewalk, or checkout station. If you feel that what you’re offering your clients is more appealing, they’ll feel more comfortable and therefore potentially increase your sales.
Ironically, a lot of recent design work we’ve been completing has been for the church. They understand that innovation and beauty are an elixir for curiosity. From prayer books to devotionals to interactive boxes, churches are supporting the value of faith with beautiful design.
Beauty is key to effective design.
