Elegance @ MIT Media Lab
Recently, a visitor to the Media Lab took me aside and asked a question. He said, “I like the stuff you guys do at the lab, and I like the way you represent it looking elegant props and demos. Do your advisors ask you to make them look elegant? I’m just curious.”
Honestly, nobody at the Media Lab has asked me to make a prize winning design for my poster(that I put quite a couple of hours in), or asked any of the students to strive on beauty of their work, as far as I know. But as human beings, elegance is something we strive for without being explicit, don’t we? Here’s my answer to the ‘whys’.
One, there are some very smart people at the lab, who know a lot about some core areas, play around and experiment with ideas all the time. Naturally, when they lend expression to their ideas, they end up making attractive designs.
Two, the lab’s programs are in Media Arts and Sciences, which means that there’s always a subtle or even obvious artistic blend to otherwise purely-technical projects. One of the lab’s key focus is human-centered design, and it is a fact of life that humans would rather see something aesthetic. My belief is that people connect themselves better to things they perceive to be of a high standard. They like to identify with such entities.
Lastly and most importantly, good designs inevitable end up being a powerful medium to convey what one is saying. This is particularly relevant when conveying a concept to a person with a non-technical background.
Good articulation/illustration by lab members help sponsors get a solid feel for what’s happening here. They end up giving valuable feedback, and taking a bunch of new ideas back with them. A win-win for all.
Evidently, elegance is not a vice.
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