Ornament in Information Architecture

A generation of web designers, information architects, and Information Technology managers has been trained to believe that ornamentation on the Web is frivolous, unbusinesslike, and unusable. This is a mistake, and its blind application makes Web sites worse -- less profitable, less successful, and less expressive. Far from leading form to follow function, ignoring ornament discards function for the sake of ideological purity and imagined efficiency.

Radical minimalism, often invoked in the name of usability, urges us to include everything our reader is looking for — and nothing else. We are told that we must be efficient and transparent, lest the impatient reader click elsewhere. We are instructed to make each new site resemble the last, to ring the changes on Amazon and Yahoo, because (we are told) this is what readers expect. We are warned that everything must be clearly labeled, that we must provide all the information our customers expect but nothing more, for unexpected information could lead users astray, confusing and frustrating them.

This is a recipe for mediocrity, and on the Web mediocrity is our enemy. Motivated customers will tolerate delay, inconvenience, and expense, but they will never countenance carelessness. We can accept long lines and short supplies, knowing that the business we patronize is working hard to meet our needs even in the face of great obstacles. But, if the customers sense even a trace of thoughtlessness and inattention, if once they gain an impression that the inconvenience arises because your company doesn't notice or doesn't care, then their fury will be boundless and their retribution swift.

The problem is not, as some pundits have argued, that customers don't want to be forced to think about Web sites. If you give customers nothing to think about, they will feel unwanted and ignored. If you bore them, they will start thinking of other places they'd rather be. (...subscribe to Tekka today!...)