Do ugly people make better designers?

Please excuse the somewhat reactionary title. I appreciated this might seem a little caustic (particle given this is my first ever blog post) but it’s just a musing. I also appreciate there are countless examples that disprove what I’m about to write with both extremely attractive people who are fabulous designers and people who weren’t blessed with fantastic looks who are lousy designers. Nonetheless, here’s the thought/passing whimsy:

If you’re born a bit of a stud then you get to play for the school football team, attend all the cool parties, and ultimately, kiss the “best” girls, does this apathy for the attention of others then lead to an ambivalence for their approval? For instance, if you never have to work hard to woo a sexual suitor, do you then cease to develop the skills necessary to place yourself in the shoes of the one you wish to woo. Perhaps, you’ve little reason to as you’ve learned there’s no need to think from someone else’s perspective.

Now put yourself in the shoes of the hopeless romantic. One whose looks stray from what society perceives to be attractive (whether through genetics, choice or having suffered a horrendous accident with farmyard threshing equipment). This poor soul wants little more than to woo the subject of his affection. He is desperate for the approval and recognition of the sultry other. But perhaps, due to the disparity between our young would-be designer’s looks and the societal expectations of the one he is chasing, he has to work a littlea lot harder to garner any affection (or attention) from his suitor. Now, let’s take a huge leap of faith and imagine he has ensnared her chosen romantic victim and the matter of lovemaking arises. How do you imagine our misfit deals with this aspect of the burgeoning relationship. Do we think, dear reader, that he’ll treat this aspect of their relationship with the same selfish ambivalence, or might he pay a little more attention to his partner. Perhaps learn the unique bi-roads, motorways and shortcuts to his new mate’s desires.

So this is where the synergy with being a good designer and not possessing earth shatteringly good looks arises.

In order to design (or at least design well) you MUST possess the ability to live in someone else’s shoes. The sooner in life you pick up these skills, the more practice you’ll have by the time you start to try and solve problems.

How is it possible then, to design anything, irrespective of whether you’re designing for a human or a system, without this same intense, intoxicating and overwhelming sense of ‘the other’. Without truly understanding how the person you’re designing for reacts, responds and communicates. Without educating yourself to the needs, wants, lusts and fears of the other, you can only come up with a mediocre or un-engaging solution. Perhaps some would argue that designing without these emotions is acceptable, perhaps even appropriate. But what’s the point. Why bother trying to solve problems and not try to touch someone.

Thus ends my first blog post. Hope you either enjoyed it or hated intensely to the point of enragement.

Mark x