Beauty and the Beast: Designing for both function and form

Does it have to be beautiful or is it a matter of taste?

This question has dogged me for years, first in writing, then in interpreting, and now here – in my work as a data analyst or whatever fancy title I should claim today.

My work gets labelled as beautiful on a good day and pretty on bad days. They’re not the same – trust me – and while one can be a compliment, most often times it fails to catch something else. You see, beauty acts like a like a great blanket, covering up the stain left from too many cups of coffee sipped precariously on the couch. It sits, sometimes noticed, sometimes overtly pulled over you, and rarely caught for the true purpose.

Have you ever walked into someone’s house and just held your breath in wonder for a moment – not because their foyer belongs in a hotel, but because it’s that well put together?

That’s beauty.

It’s beauty for a purpose, for that 2-second shot you get only once. In that moment, you feel awe, wonder, and briefly let your shoulders relax.

We often fight against beauty – it’s like a magazine cover where we know not to trust what’s inside. Except…that’s not always the case. National Geographic is often breathtaking and insightful. The Times has a cover on creativity that has me enamored.

Somewhere, we made this myth that beautiful can’t be a part of function. Steve Jobs didn’t believe that. Kelly Martin proved that was bunk. And the list goes on and on.

I made this dashboard some time ago for a webinar. I played with shape and the idea of communicating with design elements. I’ve used it in various demos, including how to build build towards a brand or to guide user experience. Recently, a few talks around this have included how I’d design it for mobile. So, I revisited it in its entirety.

And here’s what happened…

Some things didn’t change at all. In fact, the 2 primary charts on the right and its background are almost completely intact down to the pixel. I pushed the teal UI box to grey and went with a very corporate feeling blue. For a pop of color, I used aqua. And the kicker is the very curvy header which embraces the country borders.

Selecting a state drives nearly everything on this dashboard. Maybe in the first version, you didn’t notice that as much. Now, friends, you do.

Only 1 chart truly got a revamp – the state level variation from average changed its comparison point: now the selected state is a circle and everything adjusts in contrast to it. The state gets called out and the elements clarifying it are a bit more interesting and designed into the country’s shape.

Beauty is designed to draw you in, to lure you too look at this very corporate-but-still-trendy dashboard. It’s not meant to obfuscate or hide anything. It’s wholly part of the design process, highlighting elements that are related and helping users get the drift immediately.

Is this dashboard still compelling? It has the same charts, arrangement, and notes, but the icons and design bits are removed. Do you know where to look?

How about if it’s rearranged in a more textbook style?

Initially, this may look okay. Until you stare too long at the KPIs and the columns of the the shipping categories and make a false downward connection.

Does beauty add or detract? The beastly part of this work says we should show the numbers, and nothing more. We should let them be as harsh as they are – open, exposed, and with little guidance. Who are we to distract?

The human side, the curious man-ape that lives to touch and tinker, says we should put texture to the work, that we should provide direction and a bit of our human selves in the work, that – dare I say it – the thing should be beautiful.