How do you decide what’s valuable to you?
What do you value in life? Do you have a personal rule of thumb to decide what’s good and valuable, and what’s not?
Whenever I’m learning something new or meeting a new person, one of the most fascinating experiences for me is to learn about their value framework.
Valuing Design
Let’s say you meet a designer, for instance. If I were you, I’d ask, “What is good design? How do you know if the design is good or not?” I had no idea for a long time. “Anything pricy and advertised with beautiful folks,“ would have been my answer. Then I took a typography course by Chris Do (Video on his logo redesign process) He broke down the design into the 5 principles.
Contrast
Order
Surprise
Empty space
Details
Let’s analyze this screenshot from Apple using his design framework.
- Contrast: The laptops occupy large space and have vivid colors to create a clear contrast against the plain background.
- Order: How photos and typefaces are used follows the same rule applied throughout the website.
- Surprise: “New” label on top of MacBook Air breaks the pattern by being orange. Also, the picture of an MBA is cut off slightly on its right side to keep things interesting.
- Empty space: There is plenty of open space.
- Details: No typos. No blurry images. The execution is flawless.
With this framework, I can say it with confidence, yes, it’s a pretty solid design to sell the products.
Valuing Art
Now we’ll try analyzing something even more subjective and abstract. How about art? How could we value art?
According to a book by Hozu Yamamoto, director and owner of the Tokyo Ginza art gallery, “a good art makes you feel the nostalgia and novelty in one piece.” (Not sure if his book has been translated to English. His quote is my rough translation. Let me paste his interview video.)
This is a website by Jack McDade who is “a dad, husband, and a kid at heart.” And I think this is a great example of wonderful art. The way he integrates the familiar 80s & 90s with the modern website technology fits the definition of successful art perfectly. It’s unforgettable.
Valuing Japanese Business
And from here, I’ll share with you my favorite framework just for fun: The Standard Operating Procedure of a good Japanese business. Basically, to be a successful professional in Japanese society, this is the mental model you need to abide by.
E=MC
If you are not familiar with this, don’t worry. It has nothing to do with physics. I, the designer, made it up. It reads: Everyone is My Customer.
IMHO, the Japanese society is built upon the faith of equality. Everyone is equal. Everybody is like everybody. Sounds terrific in theory but there are some downsides though…
Confusing-level of clutter
Let’s say I was looking for a pair of AirPods. Instead of Amazon, I tried to shop at Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce giant like Amazon. I clicked on their link to AirPods page and look what I had to go through.
Why? Because you have to cater to everyone’s needs. Some people have FOMO and buyer’s remorse, so to minimize the risk, I’m getting this “white-glove” treatment of being presented with all other options. When you try to cater to everyone, you have to scroll down 5 screen height just to get to what YOU want. And this comically-annoying level of clutter is the result.
Confusing-level of childishness
“kawaii” stands for cute in Japanese. It’s kawaii everywhere. Look at these trains wrapped with kawaii-ness.
Why? They are supposed to make life less stressful and inclusive for everyone. It introduces the elements of humanity into the oppressive lifestyle surrounded by machines, concrete, and rigid social norms. Tobias Van Schneider, a designer based in NY, thinks this kawaii-ness is working on the Western design too “As we move away from the clean yet cold aesthetic of minimalism, we’re adopting the psychological power of cuteness.” Sadly, the kawaii doesn’t seem to help much with Japan’s groping problem in trains.
Peace & Confusion
My life in Japan has been blessed with the peculiar mix. It’s peaceful because I’ve never felt the slightest danger of walking outside in dark. It’s been confusing because it’s normal for companies to expect their non-tech majors to learn to code. That’s because if you try hard enough, you can learn to do anything as well as everyone else. That’s their belief as they live in blissful ignorance, never questioning their equality among themselves.
I don’t agree with them, but I can see where they are coming from.
Everyone has a distinct pair of lenses to make sense of the world. As a designer, I’m heavily indebted to Chris Do’s principle on design to create contrast. I wish I could bring in more elements of art to make my works more memorable as Jack McDade does. And I rely on my own experience to maneuver peace and confusion in Japanese society.
These are my favorite frameworks to see, value, and understand the world around me.
What is your unique framework to live by?
