Many people think that visual design is all about looking good. It makes sense, doesn’t it? It is called “visual” design after all.

But getting an attractive result relies upon a whole bunch of factors getting together to make an object well designed.

If you have my book, Design for Hackers, hopefully you’ve read through Chapter 1. If you don’t have my book, that’s cool – I’ve tried to set up this course so you’ll still learn something. Some things I just can’t cover in a little email though. That’s why I wrote a book, after all.

Since you’re in this class, you probably know that design matters. The thing that trips lots of people up, though, is that they get caught up in the surface, visual aspects of visual design. Apple gets talked about just about any time someone mentions good design, Steve Jobs said it better than anyone:

“In most people’s vocabularies, design is a veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product.”

Read that last sentence again, because it’s really important. You have to see those “successive layers” to really understand where good design comes from.

This is the basis of the framework that I want to put in your brain. Every time you see a design you enjoy, I want you to see the way all of those layers work together.

It will take patience to learn design this way. It involves really understanding the “whys” behind design, and it will take a lot of critical thought and observation to get there.

I fully expect that hundreds of you will drop out of this class by hitting the “unsubscribe” at the bottom of this email. No judgements here. Some of you are still hoping for the quick-and-dirty tips, and others may decide they just have more pressing things going on in their lives. Those of you who stay, though – I commend you for sticking with it.

Still here? Well, let’s get started with that critical thought and observation. This week, let’s take a look at an object that’s well-designed. I have seen these little plastic chairs all over the world. I like to call them “Wal-Mart chairs.”

Truth be told, I actually think they’re pretty visually ugly, but they’re actually quite brilliant. They’ve obviously sold extremely well, because they’re everywhere.

Think about how much they cost to produce. Think about how they are used. Think about what they are made of.

How do all of these things work together to make these chairs “well-designed,” or effective at their intended use? For example, look at how the legs are cambered channels of plastic. The feet are at the end of these channels. Why are the legs shaped like this?

Let’s talk about these chairs on the D4H Facebook Page. What are some factors that you think influenced the design of these chairs?

Until next week, think about the “layers” of design in all sorts of things around you: your silverware, the button on a website, or even a door handle.

Next week, we’ll learn about some tools you can use to expose and think about some of these “layers” when creating a User Experience.

Note: Some of you may be wondering what these chairs have to do with anything that you actually hope to learn to design. That’s the point. It doesn’t matter what you’re designing, the “layers” of design are always there. This discussion is intentionally abstract so you won’t be distracted by unimportant details.