Before I start, I would like to mention this post was inspired by one written by Dan Eden, but I want to go into a little more detail, I advise you go ahead and read his post first as it introduces the concept a little better than I can hope to.

This post, as titled, is about beauty in function. I would like to explain a common scenario for Windows users (I no longer use Windows); Joe wants to find a code editor that works well (like eclipse) and looks good (like dreamweaver). He searches for ages and just cannot understand the lack of such products. Now on mac, this isn’t so much of a problem, as it is the home of creative products, but on windows it’s a massive problem.

Why should a product perform well, yet look like it’s been dragged through a hedge backwards, how can that make a user want to use it? This extends to the real world too.

Let’s take computers for example: until recently, not many companies felt that putting time and resources into the physical appearance of their computers was worthwhile. Why would a potential customer want to stare at a dull beige computer all day long?

Another example is food: professional chefs spend ages decorating the plate with their creation. It doesn’t change the taste of it, but everyone appreciates it.

So remember, aesthetics are important, maybe as important as the actual function.