What is good design?

Why do some homes make the cover of magazines while the closest others manage to get is having those same glossy photos taped to the fridge?  Granted being professionally cleaned and staged doesn’t hurt.  But the difference goes far deeper than a lack of dust bunnies or a few exotic flowers strategically placed.  The difference is design – and more specifically good design.    Good design is not fickle - it doesn’t follow fads, on the contrary fads often fail in their attempt to mimic good design.  Beauty may be only skin deep but good design goes all the way to the bones (of the house that is).  I'm not trying to give an example of A good design - at least not this particular post - rather this is an attempt to define design itself.  Good design  is spatially aware, and understands the necessary functionality of the space - good design seamlessly integrates the utility of the room with the tastes of the inhabitants of the space.

Think you’re not affected by design?  Think again.  In a recent Letter from the Editor Architectural Digest’s Paige Rense said “Perhaps you’re not particularly visual and are convinced you pay no attention to your surrounding.  Wrong.  You do.  Even if you’re not consciously aware of it, you’re affected by colors, scale and lighting, by furniture and whatever is on the walls.”

I love architectural digest – it’s one of my favorite publications.  However, I think Ms. Rense’s letter, missed the mark a bit by not delineating the difference between decorating and designing.  Décor, in my opinion, is only part of what makes up a good design.  Good design is both aesthetically pleasing as well as (and probably more importantly) functional.  A functionally  unusable space will eventually fail and fall out of favor, no matter how pretty it is.  But, when both beauty and utility combine in a space then you have a room that won’t go out of style.  Tastes may change, fads will come and go, but good design will always be appreciated irregardless of the whims of society.  And, more often than not, societal trends will come back to reflect such designs.  In short, design is an attempt to enrich our lives and allow our best selves to come forth through beauty and function - and a good design does just that.