Mood:
not sureTopic: Brainstorming
Anyone who thinks the problems of today's designers are unique should read Raymond Loewy's 1951 book Never Leave Well Enough Alone. It's a glimpse into a time when another design discipline, industrial design, was in its nascent stage, just like interaction design is today.
Loewy, for those of you who aren't up on your design history, was one of the premier industrial designers of the mid-20th century. He (or more correctly his firm) did a staggeringly broad selection of designs, from refrigerators to trains to logos, and changed the look of products forever. His most famous dictum is the MAYA principle: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.
Loewy summarized his design philosophy with the acronym, MAYA - Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. It served as a guiding principle for Loewy and those in his employ reminding them not to push a design, however excellent, beyond the threshold of acceptability to consumers and manufacturers.
Loewy’s belief that every object, no matter how simple or complex, has an ideal form that expresses its function with economy and grace, was characterized through his work.
