Sweet Spot of Good Design

We have so many products around us. Some works well for us but some don’t. I have read numerous articles explaining what makes a good product design. However, I find this particular one interesting because the Writer doesn’t try to explain what a good product design is. She just thinks of random products around her and how people use them. She then draws a chart on what makes a product useful (e.g. a forklift), enjoyable (e.g. baking cookies with Kylie Minogue in person), easy to access (e.g. A blunt eyebrow pencil).

You can make a product both enjoyable and easy to access e.g. Watching Kylie Minogue concert on TV.

You can also make a product both useful and easy to access e.g. A telephone.

Or you can make a product both useful and enjoyable e.g. A private jet.

So what is the sweet spot of design?

The trick is to make a product with all 3 qualities above: Useful, Enjoyable and Easy to Access e.g. Smartphone. I call it the sweet spot of good design! Or rather the writer calls it The Holy Grail of Good Design.

So if you start thinking in the context of a software product, you would want the same thing too:

1. A good user experience (Enjoyable)
2. It solves a problem (Useful)
3. User can access from any device with Internet connection (Easy to Access)

The writer goes on to give “art” and “design” a very simplistic definition: “art’s primary intention is to elicit emotion, design’s is to solve a problem.” With the combination of art (Enjoyable user experience) and design (Useful). And if the price is right (Easy to Access). You will end up with a product that is loved by your users.