On Taste.

(In response to Paul Graham’s discussion On Taste)

The Critique of Judgment begins with an account of beauty. For Kant, aesthetic judgment has four characteristics-

1) That the judgment of beauty is disinterested – Something is beautiful because we take pleasure in it, not the other way around. Beauty is almost a quality of the object- like its weight and material.

2) That the judgment of beauty is universal – Often misunderstood, universality here refers to man’s innate common sense.

3) That the judgment is necessary – The judgment of beauty is not very different from other cognitive judgments. Every judgment of the human mind follows principle.

4) That the judgment is tied up with the experience of purpose – Again, one of the more misunderstood points in Kant’s discourse, to experience purpose is to experience affect; it is to be moved in some way; to be forced to think. All beauty lies in the higher realm of ideas.

I bring up Kant here because he approaches beauty in design from the perspective of human judgment. Good design happens at the intersection of human experience and great ideas to make that experience better. Graham’s essay presents an almost exhaustive list of features of good design except the part where people actually use the design! Good design feels natural, it feels seamless, or as in with immersive experiences- good design has beautiful seams. I felt that the Kantian approach is especially important today when fewer and fewer people are at the receiving end of cutting edge design. It should not be difficult for people to understand how new technology works. It is frightening that so much new stuff is being made that is intimidating to so many users. A washing machine has no business trying to be anything more than well, a washing machine. When Graham says, a good design is simple, I almost hoped he meant, simple to use/experience. Good design is simple in that it is simple to the mind and body of the user. This is exactly the idea that sets Apple apart from its competitors. It is human. Kant’s discourse is especially helpful in that he looks at beauty over design and it may be time to revisit that relationship.

Tags: Design, Kant, Paul Graham