Friends,
Just a quick note. Once again, I did _not_ choose the example as the best
example of the issue at hand, but rather as an example of a problem that
lies outside interpretation. I was demonstrating (or trying to) that some
forms of evidence lie outside and beyond the realm of social construction.
There may be better examples of evidence for legibility. That was not my
purpose in putting the example forward. I used two cases -- hand washing and
blue type on red background -- in an attempt to show that some forms of
evidence rest of principles that do not depend on social construction.
Gunnar's right that other issues come into play here. No one sensible
rejects creativity, artistry, or pleasure as design criteria. If I was
debating that point, we'd be on the same side. Where I differ from many
designers is in proposing that such criteria as creativity, artistry,
elegance, and pleasure come into play IF and ONLY IF the designer also finds
and solves the right problem. Solving the right problem is a necessary
constraint. Without it, the rest is what so often happens: a delightful
solution that fails to do the job.
But that was not my point. The issue here and the reason for choosing those
two examples was simply to raise an issue on the nature of evidence.
If you review my original post, I delimited the examples with a clear
condition and I stated that one could well find other examples for that
point. I chose these because they seemed simple and reasonable. That's the
reason I put those examples forward, and that's the only issue I intended
them to illustrate.
Warm wishes,
Ken
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