The Nature and Art of Workmanship A Book by David Pye www.bloomsbury.com That which requires caringMass production of variable productsFrom hands to machinesEmploys nothing at allWhat is Folk Craft? designmakingcraftstyle
The Nature and Aesthetics of Design A Book by David Pye books.google.com Any imaginable shapeUseless work on useful thingsPresentableThe principle of arrangementThe minimum condition+35 More More real than living manThat which requires caringThe informing idea of functionalism designaestheticsmakingstylecraftbeauty
Essential vs. nice to have Customers have trouble distinguishing between essential features and those that are just "nice to have." Examples of the latter class: those arbitrarily overlapping windows suggested by the uncritically but widely adopted desktop metaphor; and fancy icons decorating the screen display, such as antique mailboxes and garbage cans that are further enhanced by the visible movement of selected items toward their ultimate destination. These details are cute but not essential, and they have a hidden cost. / Increased complexity results in large part from our recent penchant for friendly user interaction. I've already mentioned windows and icons; color, gray-scales, shadows, pop-ups, pictures, and all kinds of gadgets can easily be added. Niklaus Wirth, A Plea for Lean Software Menus, Metaphors and Materials: Milestones of User Interface Designlittlebigdetails interfacesux