Reading Design Lobster frequently brings me such solace and validation about being a designer. This post prompts me to share an example of nobly asked for this from my own life.
Lucy, my mother and, in all seriousness, my most influential design teacher and mentor, made me a special dress for graduation. The dress fabric was an exquisite, hand screened Swiss cotton featuring a stylized print of red, raspberry and blue tulips on a dark navy background. The idea of using dark navy thread to hem a ruffled edge, even for tiny stitches, and how it would mar the fabric’s darling blossoms disturbed her. So, she decided to change the thread color at each and every blossom to assure a match. The result was an exquisite hand-rolled hem held by invisible stitches, enough to satisfy any couture standards by a long shot.
My mother's motivation to sew like this - whether arduously matching thread colors or tailoring something to drape perfectly- is her quiet way of honoring exquisitely beautiful fabrics and design. To this day, the sewers at Ginny’s Fine Fabrics use the phrase, “to do a Lucy” when referring to any ridiculously over-the-top technique used when taking great care to honor beautiful fabrics.
Surplus care can come across as either pointlessly anal (opposite of hodo hodo) or inspiring because what you care about is what the viewer/consumer never realized was important - until (s)he encountered your design.
In mediocre products, surplus care reflects the political history of the maker (probably a department that grew too large and needs to exercise its authority).
But in other cases (even as humble as the magnetic 'sucking' of the mac charger to the relief/delight of a nocturnal programmer) is simply inspired design
There's probably some nuance here I guess, though I tend to believe most designers are operating in good faith on the behalf of the end-user. I do think that if you want to make a great product an abundance of care is a better and more reliable route, even if the trade-off is the odd decision some folks might consider a bit "anal"!
Reading Design Lobster frequently brings me such solace and validation about being a designer. This post prompts me to share an example of nobly asked for this from my own life.
Lucy, my mother and, in all seriousness, my most influential design teacher and mentor, made me a special dress for graduation. The dress fabric was an exquisite, hand screened Swiss cotton featuring a stylized print of red, raspberry and blue tulips on a dark navy background. The idea of using dark navy thread to hem a ruffled edge, even for tiny stitches, and how it would mar the fabric’s darling blossoms disturbed her. So, she decided to change the thread color at each and every blossom to assure a match. The result was an exquisite hand-rolled hem held by invisible stitches, enough to satisfy any couture standards by a long shot.
My mother's motivation to sew like this - whether arduously matching thread colors or tailoring something to drape perfectly- is her quiet way of honoring exquisitely beautiful fabrics and design. To this day, the sewers at Ginny’s Fine Fabrics use the phrase, “to do a Lucy” when referring to any ridiculously over-the-top technique used when taking great care to honor beautiful fabrics.
This is such a lovely example of taking care, thanks so much for sharing!
Surplus care can come across as either pointlessly anal (opposite of hodo hodo) or inspiring because what you care about is what the viewer/consumer never realized was important - until (s)he encountered your design.
In mediocre products, surplus care reflects the political history of the maker (probably a department that grew too large and needs to exercise its authority).
But in other cases (even as humble as the magnetic 'sucking' of the mac charger to the relief/delight of a nocturnal programmer) is simply inspired design
There's probably some nuance here I guess, though I tend to believe most designers are operating in good faith on the behalf of the end-user. I do think that if you want to make a great product an abundance of care is a better and more reliable route, even if the trade-off is the odd decision some folks might consider a bit "anal"!