Google, Apple iPhone, Nintendo Wii

Earlier this month, Google's lead visual designer left the company, and shared some of the reasons for his departure: "When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data...that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions."

Earlier this month, FaceBook changed the visual look and feel of its site layout, leading to ongoing and vociferous outrage from more than 600,000 of its engaged and loyal users, and counting: "[J]ust one newly voiced opinion from the company's 'Vote on the new Facebook layout' app, which seems in keeping with consensus among the 624,665 comments there so far: 'this one is really confusing.'"

Earlier this month, Twitter, perhaps the hottest of the hot social networks, revealed that it paid a mere $6 to acquire the "tweety bird" logo that introduces their service: "The bird on Twitter's home page, familiar to millions, is small, cute and fun, and implies communication and anticipation. One might say it's the perfect graphic for Twitter. Yet the company paid its designer at most $6, without attribution."

Besides being anecdotes from three of the trendiest and (arguably) increasingly influential technology companies of our day, they are stories of engineering cultures which pay scant heed to visual design and creativity. Instead of integrating visual design into their core product development strategies, it becomes something that gets tacked on after the process of turning out products has already begun. So goes it with engineers. Ultimately, I think that end-users and consumers pay the price, in that they receive less-than-optimal experiences and things that are not very pleasing aesthetically, perhaps even just plain ugly. At the end of the day, this will affect customer loyalty and hurt bottomline growth, because no one really wants to buy ugly, unless they have to because there's no other choice.

I'll give Google a little credit, in their self-published "Google User Experience" document, they call their visual style a "minimalist aesthetic," but when I read one of their own employees (now former), someone originally hired to raise Google's visual design to breakthrough levels, say: "Without a person at (or near) the helm who thoroughly understands the principles and elements of Design, a company eventually runs out of reasons for design decisions," all I can say of their minimalist aesthetic is: lip service. Their definition of minimal aesthetic is really shorthand for "no visual design at all." It's just not that important to them, it doesn't matter what label you slap on it, it's an afterthought, not a strategic initiative

Some will argue that in high technology companies, visual design really isn't that important, because what separates the winners from the losers in this game is superior engineering. To that, I also say: lip service. Technological excellence will get you a lead, but it won't sustain it, because everyone's technology is always improving; that competitor in your rear-view mirror is closer than you think. Innovation never sleeps. Still, the recent history of consumer technology is a nothing but a graveyard of superior know-how that's been beaten by lesser know-how. If you're old enough to remember videotape, recall the battle between Beta vs. VHS - the superior technology lost. Or what about a more contemporary example: the Nintendo Wii vs. XBox360 and PlayStation3? The latter two, with all of their CPUs and GPUs, raw computing-horsepower and ability to draw millions of polygons and render photorealistic vistas were supposed to crush the under-powered, toy-like Wii: but look what happened - the little videogame engine that could, did. Superior engineering doesn't always guarantee a winner. So if tech companies are to get an edge that goes beyond luring the best engineers away from the competition, why don't they take a closer look at visual design?

What happens in technology companies when visual design - and the deeply creative thinking it embodies - gets a seat at the big table with engineering? What happens when visual design is integrated into the product development process from Day One? I don't know for sure, but I think you end up with something like Apple's iPhone.

Since so many technology companies covet and would love to emulate the kind of phenomenal success Apple has had with the iPhone, maybe the time has come to begin taking visual design seriously. Perhaps now is the time to focus on transforming visual design into a competitive advantage, a way to build relevant differentiation into products. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that makes beauty relevant. Without a focus on visual design, all a technology company can do is churn out products that have minimalist aesthetics, and that's just a euphemism for "ugly."

Customers know ugly when they see it. And it's not really a trigger for driving purchases, or a recipe for premium pricing. Did you notice, by the way, that Google, Facebook, and Twitter also have something else in common? They're all (currently) free.

Like I said before, people don't buy ugly. But they'll certainly scoop it up when it's free.

Want a business model? Sell beautiful.

1. The New Literacy
   (Wired)
   Blogged: Monday, September 7, 2009
2. Google calls it 'minimalist aesthetic' but it's a euphemism for ugly
   (caught |n between blog)
   Blogged: Sunday, March 29, 2009
3. Goodbye Google
   (stopdesign)
   Blogged: Sunday, March 22, 2009
4. How P. Diddy is the Center of the CS Universe
   (Scatter/Gather blog)
   Blogged: Saturday, March 14, 2009
5. What Carriers Aren't Eager to Tell You About Texting
   (NYTimes.com)
   Blogged: Friday, January 2, 2009
6. Cool Spy Gadgets for the James Bond Within You
   (Walyou blog)
   Blogged: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
7. How the CNN Holographic Interview System Works
   (Gizmodo)
   Blogged: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
8. Olympics reporters find Web censored
   (TheStar.com)
   Blogged: Wednesday, July 30, 2008
9. Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning
   (Official Google Blog)
   Blogged: Saturday, July 19, 2008
10. why you should never be a startup girlfriend
    (la vita e bella blog)
    Blogged: Wednesday, July 16, 2008
11. Programming: The New Literacy
    (Edutopia)
    Blogged: Monday, July 14, 2008
12. The Cone
    (BuzzFeed)
    Blogged: Tuesday, June 10, 2008
13. Blu-ray: Do Consumers Care?
    (Bits/New York Times blog)
    Blogged: Thursday, April 24, 2008
14. The Coming of the Holodeck
    (New York Times Blog)
    Blogged: Saturday, April 12, 2008
15. Tech that's just wrong
    (Crave/CNET.co.uk)
    Blogged: Thursday, March 13, 2008
16. The Nokia Morph
    (DVICE.com)
    Blogged: Monday, February 25, 2008
17. The Movies
    Blogged: Thursday, January 17, 2008
18. Microsoft Surface
    Blogged: Thursday, May 31, 2007
19. Japanese Mac vs PC Apple Ad
    (YouTube)
    Blogged: Monday, March 5, 2007
20. 'Infomania' worse than marijuana
    Blogged: Saturday, February 24, 2007
21. iPhone
    (Apple.com)
    Blogged: Wednesday, January 10, 2007
22. Sex, Violence, Tension and Comic Books (and Video Games)
    (Gamasutra)
    Blogged: Thursday, December 28, 2006
23. Internet Video and how the Broadcast Nets are Missing the HDTV Opportunity
    (Blog Maverick)
    Blogged: Tuesday, December 26, 2006
24. How they steal your card at ATM
    (Dark Roasted Blend blog)
    Blogged: Saturday, December 23, 2006
25. The new mating call...
    (Yahoo! News)
    Blogged: Monday, October 30, 2006
26. Albert Einstein Robot
    (YouTube/ROBORAMA.info)
    Blogged: Saturday, August 26, 2006
27. Dylan Calls Digital Recordings Atrocious
    (Extreme Tech)
    Blogged: Wednesday, August 23, 2006
28. Madden Day 2007
    (EA Sports)
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 22, 2006
29. Worst ever security flaw found in Dieblod TS voting machine
    (Open Voting Foundation)
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 1, 2006
30. Lights, Camera -- Jamming
    (Technology Review)
    Blogged: Sunday, July 30, 2006
31. LiTha-Paint{Alpha}
    Blogged: Tuesday, July 25, 2006
32. Tesla Roadster
    (Wired News)
    Blogged: Saturday, July 22, 2006
33. Anything But iPod
    Blogged: Tuesday, May 30, 2006
34. Face Recognition Software Goes Public
    (Technology Review)
    Blogged: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
35. How can someone in Moscow take your money?
    (The Red Tape Chronicles/MSNBC.com)
    Blogged: Sunday, March 19, 2006
36. Biomimicry
    (IT Conversations)
    Blogged: Tuesday, March 7, 2006
37. Steve's Outfit
    Blogged: Wednesday, March 1, 2006
38. Songbird
    (Boing Boing)
    Blogged: Wednesday, February 8, 2006
39. Riya
    Blogged: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
40. Hippo Water Roller
    Blogged: Thursday, October 20, 2005
41. iPhone?
    Blogged: Thursday, September 8, 2005
42. New degree programs produce chef-scientists
    (USATODAY.com)
    Blogged: Wednesday, September 7, 2005
43. Amazon Shorts
    Blogged: Wednesday, September 7, 2005
44. GodCasting?
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 30, 2005
45. GooglePark: Scoble Goes To Google
    Blogged: Sunday, August 28, 2005
46. DVR Recording Tips
    (Extremetech)
    Blogged: Wednesday, June 22, 2005
47. The Mac-Intel Computer, Finally!
    (ABC News)
    Blogged: Monday, June 6, 2005
48. The New Laws of Television (Part 2)
    (Boing Boing blog)
    Blogged: Tuesday, May 24, 2005
49. iPod bartender
    Blogged: Friday, May 20, 2005
50. XML Shareable Playlist Format
    Blogged: Friday, May 20, 2005
51. Tiny tags in chips to track gamblers
    (The Seattle Times)
    Blogged: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
52. Status of Warp Drive
    (NASA.gov)
    Blogged: Friday, May 6, 2005
53. Home Theater Master MX-500 Remote Control
    Blogged: Wednesday, May 4, 2005
54. NextBus
    Blogged: Tuesday, May 3, 2005
55. On the Razr's Edge: Cell Phones Morph into Hip, Consumer Electronics Devices
    (Knowledge@Wharton)
    Blogged: Monday, May 2, 2005
56. Mercora
    Blogged: Tuesday, April 19, 2005
57. Quicksilver, summarized well
    (43 Folders)
    Blogged: Monday, April 11, 2005
58. Could a multimedia iPod allow Apple to dominate movie and TV online sales?
    (Silicon Valley Watcher)
    Blogged: Thursday, April 7, 2005
59. There's No Show Like an Old Show
    (I, Cringely)
    Blogged: Thursday, April 7, 2005
60. Writing Hacks
    (Poynter Online)
    Blogged: Friday, February 18, 2005
61. UtiliTEA Kettle
    (Adagio Teas)
    Blogged: Thursday, January 27, 2005
62. Apple's iPod Shuffle Stifles Podcasting
    (Internet.com)
    Blogged: Thursday, January 20, 2005
63. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to give Commencement address
    (Stanford Report)
    Blogged: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
64. iPod shuffle
    (Apple.com)
    Blogged: Tuesday, January 18, 2005
65. The Evolution of Mario
    Blogged: Monday, December 13, 2004
66. Exploding Cell Phones a Growing Problem
    (EWeek)
    Blogged: Sunday, November 28, 2004
67. Keyhole
    Blogged: Saturday, November 20, 2004
68. Thump
    (Oakley.com)
    Blogged: Friday, November 19, 2004
69. iPodder, the cross-platform Podcast receiver
    (Sourceforge.net)
    Blogged: Thursday, October 7, 2004
70. How-To: Podcasting (aka How to get Podcasts and also make your own)
    (Engadget.com)
    Blogged: Tuesday, October 5, 2004
71. BBEdit 8
    (Daring Fireball)
    Blogged: Sunday, September 19, 2004
72. People's Republic of Mac
    (Wired News)
    Blogged: Monday, September 13, 2004
73. Advertising's New Wham-Bam!
    (reveries magazine)
    Blogged: Friday, August 27, 2004
74. It's In The Game
    (EA Sports)
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 24, 2004
75. Mel Gibson, leading the unwashed from the technological desert?
    (Canuckflack blog)
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 24, 2004
76. Amazing Money Jar Bank
    (Discovery Channel Store)
    Blogged: Tuesday, August 24, 2004
77. HDTV, DVD, Hard Drives and the future
    (Blog Maverick)
    Blogged: Monday, August 23, 2004
78. DNA technique protects against 'evil' emails
    (New Scientist)
    Blogged: Thursday, August 19, 2004
79. Smart tiles add reality to virtual worlds
    (New Scientist)
    Blogged: Thursday, August 19, 2004
80. M(i)Robot
    (robosapienonline.com)
    Blogged: Wednesday, August 18, 2004
81. itunes versus jazz preservation
    (harlem.org)
    Blogged: Thursday, August 12, 2004
82. Picture What Matters
    (Yahoo! Mobile/Yahoo! Photos)
    Blogged: Wednesday, August 11, 2004
83. The Vertical Farm Project
    Blogged: Sunday, June 20, 2004
84. Purple Album
    Blogged: Monday, May 31, 2004
85. Army gunning for game players
    (CNET News.com)
    Blogged: Wednesday, May 19, 2004
86. Personas and plogs
    (Jon's Radio blog)
    Blogged: Tuesday, May 18, 2004
87. Too Many Fake Friends
    (PCMag)
    Blogged: Wednesday, May 5, 2004
88. Missouri tracks scofflaws via pizza-delivery databases
    (USATODAY.com)
    Blogged: Thursday, April 29, 2004
89. Must-See TV Ads - Data Mining
    Blogged: Thursday, April 22, 2004
90. YASNS Meta List, Comments Please?
    (The Social Software Weblog)
    Blogged: Tuesday, April 20, 2004
91. Ectogenesis Web Space
    Blogged: Monday, April 19, 2004
92. Sony, Toppan develop optical disc made from paper
    (Forbes.com)
    Blogged: Thursday, April 15, 2004
93. High-Tech Background Checks Hit Stores
    (Excite)
    Blogged: Saturday, March 13, 2004
94. MovieRec
    (Infinityball.com)
    Blogged: Thursday, March 11, 2004
95. RoboSapien
    Blogged: Thursday, March 11, 2004
96. Delivering Films to Fans
    (Cinequest Online)
    Blogged: Thursday, March 4, 2004
97. engadget
    Blogged: Thursday, March 4, 2004
98. PeopleAggregator.com source code
    Blogged: Thursday, February 12, 2004
99. GarageBand Kicks Out the Jams
    (Wired News)
    Blogged: Monday, February 9, 2004
100. Treo-diction
     (gigaom blog)
     Blogged: Thursday, February 5, 2004
101. My Hoopty, um, My Treo600!
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 28, 2004
102. WeaKnees.com
     Blogged: Monday, January 26, 2004
103. Philips Creates Foldable Screens for E-Newspapers
     (Reuters)
     Blogged: Monday, January 26, 2004
104. Does Mobile Telephony Disconnect People from City Life?
     (TheFeature)
     Blogged: Thursday, January 22, 2004
105. iCalShare
     Blogged: Thursday, January 22, 2004
106. My Treo600 has arrived...
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 21, 2004
107. EFF Secures Protection for ReplayTV Clients
     Blogged: Friday, January 16, 2004
108. Profitless Prosperity?
     (GigaOm)
     Blogged: Sunday, January 11, 2004
109. A Big Garage
     (Daring Fireball blog)
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 7, 2004
110. Technology's Impact on Everything
     (CIO Magazine)
     Blogged: Tuesday, October 14, 2003
111. Breakfast at Fry's
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 1, 2003
112. DVDRhelp.com / VCDhelp.com
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 1, 2003
113. Camera Phones
     (Techdirt)
     Blogged: Sunday, September 7, 2003
114. G5
     Blogged: Monday, June 23, 2003
115. Philips Unveils Mirror TV
     (PCWorld.com)
     Blogged: Wednesday, June 18, 2003
116. Jesse's Bookmarklets Site
     Blogged: Tuesday, June 3, 2003
117. Gates Funds Harlem Schools
     (NYPost.com)
     Blogged: Wednesday, May 21, 2003
118. Lonely Planet | Mobile Services
     Blogged: Monday, May 19, 2003
119. Disney to begin renting 'self-destructing' DVDs
     (Yahoo!)
     Blogged: Friday, May 16, 2003
120. RIAA apologizes for erroneous letters
     (News.com)
     Blogged: Wednesday, May 14, 2003
121. Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA)
     Blogged: Friday, April 4, 2003
122. An Apple is Born
     (MacKiDo)
     Blogged: Tuesday, April 1, 2003
123. TiVo Reports Oscars Viewing Behavior
     (AdAge.com)
     Blogged: Wednesday, March 26, 2003
124. U.S. Dominance in Space: 'Pity the Enemy'
     (DefenseLINK News)
     Blogged: Monday, March 17, 2003
125. Human ID at a Distance
     Blogged: Monday, March 17, 2003
126. Smallpox Research Grid
     (IBM Life Sciences)
     Blogged: Thursday, February 13, 2003
127. A new kind of publishing tool
     (Marc's Voice)
     Blogged: Sunday, January 26, 2003
128. Proposal for Open Media Management
     (Marc's Voice)
     Blogged: Friday, January 17, 2003
129. Smart Playlists Tips
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 8, 2003
130. Turing tests filter spam email
     (New Scientist)
     Blogged: Saturday, January 4, 2003
131. When every picture tells a story
     Blogged: Saturday, January 4, 2003
132. The Scribbler
     Blogged: Monday, November 4, 2002
133. Macromedia's Video Blogs
     (Vern on MX)
     Blogged: Thursday, October 31, 2002
134. Army Working on Three-Year Sandwich
     (Yahoo! News)
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 30, 2002
135. Film: Mac Fervor, Malcolm X Style
     (Wired News:)
     Blogged: Thursday, October 17, 2002
136. MicroCar Smackdown
     (ExtremeTech)
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 16, 2002
137. 2003 Nissan 350Z
     Blogged: Saturday, October 12, 2002
138. Niche retailers supply gadget geeks with latest from Japan
     (SiliconValley.com)
     Blogged: Monday, October 7, 2002
139. Change Your Jaguar Boot Screen
     (www.ryandesign.com)
     Blogged: Sunday, September 1, 2002
140. The Cathedral and the Bazaar
     Blogged: Sunday, August 25, 2002
141. Little hope for Talk City users
     (CNET.com)
     Blogged: Friday, August 23, 2002
142. Diamonds are forever, and you could be too
     (CNN.com)
     Blogged: Thursday, August 22, 2002
143. TiVo Might Rue Arrival of DTV
     (Wired News)
     Blogged: Wednesday, August 7, 2002
144. Can't Understand It? Don't Worry
     (Joel on Software)
     Blogged: Monday, August 5, 2002
145. Translucent Databases
     Blogged: Saturday, August 3, 2002
146. :: planet replay ::
     Blogged: Saturday, July 27, 2002
147. iRock
     Blogged: Sunday, July 21, 2002
148. Fair Use advocates silenced by Big Brother
     (The Register)
     Blogged: Sunday, July 21, 2002
149. KurzweilAI.net
     Blogged: Saturday, July 20, 2002
150. Fowl play
     (Guardian Unlimited | Special reports)
     Blogged: Sunday, July 14, 2002
151. Eye TV
     (El Gato Software)
     Blogged: Saturday, July 13, 2002
152. UK Nuclear stores 'on verge of exploding'
     (Guardian Unlimited)
     Blogged: Saturday, June 29, 2002
153. Evolutionism Propaganda
     (Objective: Christian Ministries)
     Blogged: Monday, April 22, 2002
154. The Chipsons™
     Blogged: Saturday, March 9, 2002
155. The Wait Is Over
     Blogged: Sunday, February 24, 2002
156. Gates, Bono, unveil 'DATA Agenda' for Africa
     (CNN.com)
     Blogged: Saturday, February 16, 2002
157. Television doesn't accept new machine that can warp time
     (Newszine)
     Blogged: Tuesday, February 12, 2002
158. 'You're Fired' Software is a Sign of the Times
     (NYPOST.COM)
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 9, 2002
159. Fire And Motion
     (Joel on Software)
     Blogged: Wednesday, January 9, 2002
160. How Segways Work
     (Howstuffworks)
     Blogged: Wednesday, December 26, 2001
161. DBX
     Blogged: Sunday, December 16, 2001
162. Segway
     Blogged: Thursday, December 13, 2001
163. FDA Approves Contraceptive Skin Patch
     (FDA.gov)
     Blogged: Saturday, November 24, 2001
164. Digital Bruce Lee to Star in New Movie
     (washingtonpost.com)
     Blogged: Friday, November 16, 2001
165. Smart Shirt
     Blogged: Monday, October 29, 2001
166. Steal This Essay 1: Content Is a Pure Public Good
     (TidBITS)
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
167. For Toughest U.S. Troops, Highest-Tech Combat Gear
     (LA Times)
     Blogged: Sunday, October 21, 2001
168. US deploys controversial weapon
     (Guardian Unlimited)
     Blogged: Friday, October 12, 2001
169. US launches 'anti-terror' satellite
     (BBC News)
     Blogged: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
170. Reverse Speech
     Blogged: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
171. b2 >
     Blogged: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
172. Psychological warfare underway in Afghanistan
     (New Scientist)
     Blogged: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
173. Apple Story Palo Alto Grand Opening
     Blogged: Sunday, October 7, 2001
174. How Black Boxes Work
     (Howstuffworks)
     Blogged: Saturday, September 15, 2001
175. Why the towers collapsed
     (Salon.com)
     Blogged: Tuesday, September 11, 2001
176. ReplayTV 4000
     Blogged: Friday, September 7, 2001
177. I, Cringely
     Blogged: Tuesday, September 4, 2001
178. Human blood from stem cells
     Blogged: Tuesday, September 4, 2001
179. The Lunar Conspiracy. Did Man Really go to the Moon?
     Blogged: Friday, August 31, 2001
180. Centaurus A
     (Chandra X-Ray Observatory)
     Blogged: Saturday, August 11, 2001
181. State puts brakes on GPS speeding fines
     (News.com)
     Blogged: Tuesday, July 3, 2001
182. Rental driver finds Big Brother over shoulder
     (CNN.com)
     Blogged: Sunday, July 1, 2001
183. Space Junk!
     (Cincinnati CityBeat)
     Blogged: Wednesday, June 20, 2001
184. Drug May Help Curb Compulsive Gambling
     Blogged: Friday, June 8, 2001
185. wincent.org:
     Blogged: Thursday, June 7, 2001
186. Interview: Dan Bricklin
     (Internet World)
     Blogged: Sunday, May 27, 2001
187. Powerful talking
     (MSNBC.com)
     Blogged: Thursday, March 29, 2001
188. News: Digital TV snowed in by 'Napster factor'
     (ZDNet)
     Blogged: Sunday, March 18, 2001
189. Doctors defiant on cloning
     Blogged: Saturday, March 10, 2001
190. Supertracks
     Blogged: Tuesday, February 20, 2001
191. Cool Sign
     Blogged: Tuesday, February 6, 2001
192. Structure of Mind Control...
     (New Netizen)
     Blogged: Tuesday, February 6, 2001
193. World's First Disposable Cell Phone
     Blogged: Saturday, January 27, 2001
194. Ginger
     Blogged: Friday, January 26, 2001
195. The Promise of BlackBerry
     (AnchorDesk)
     Blogged: Monday, January 22, 2001
196. Memes: Introduction
     Blogged: Monday, April 24, 2000
197. PlayStation2
     Blogged: Monday, April 17, 2000
198. Skycar
     Blogged: Sunday, April 9, 2000
199. Big Fish: E. David Ellington, Mr. Multitask
     (RedHerring.com)
     Blogged: Thursday, April 6, 2000
200. Light-fingered
     (New Scientist)
     Blogged: Friday, March 24, 2000
201. Save Our Satellites
     Blogged: Friday, March 24, 2000
202. Silicon Valley Venture Capital Now A Commodity
     (Forbes.com)
     Blogged: Friday, March 17, 2000
203. Richard Saul Wurman Interview
     (Front Wheel Drive)
     Blogged: Tuesday, February 29, 2000
204. Housing technology can bring equity to digital divide
     Blogged: Monday, February 14, 2000
205. Nanotechnology: From Science Fiction to Fact
     Blogged: Monday, January 24, 2000
206. DVD Industry Plays Hardball With DeCSS 'Pirates'
     Blogged: Thursday, December 30, 1999