“Industrial design brought art to existing mass-produced technology, but printing brought mass-producing technology to an existing art.

“Before the 15th century, books were precious and extremely rare, for each had to be copied by hand. Books were also exquisite works of art.. Gutenberg and contemporary printers were exceptionally devoted to the art form, and took great pains to preserve the quality of the hand-lettered page. Unlike early printers, unfortunately, early web technologists cared little for the artistic qualities of their predecessor..

“Before the 15th century, books were precious and extremely rare, for each had to be copied by hand. A single book might cost as much as a farm. Books were also exquisite works of art, carefully lettered in calligraphy, lavishly illustrated and decorated. In the 1440s, Johann Gutenberg’s movable type press boosted book production over a thousand-fold, making books affordable (and literacy worthwhile, and political awareness possible) for the average person for the first time. Gutenberg’s emulation of calligraphy was so accurate, his bibles were sold as handmade manuscripts in Paris. When people noticed the quantity and similarity of the books, they did not suspect printing, but witchcraft!

“With air travel in a slump for the past few years, airlines have been desperate for any passengers they can get. Unsuccessful ones have even faced bankruptcy. With so much at stake, why hasn’t any airline attempted to improve the ticket-buying experience through better software design? The problem is primarily cultural. Asking “Why doesn’t Southwest design better software?” is challenging the symptom, not the disease. The real question is, “Does software design exist yet?” Before we can expect better airline websites, we may need to change a worldview.

“The map and the written sentence are both about 5000 years old. The time bar graph was invented about 250 years ago. They are beautiful, venerable forms of visual communication. The bugs have been worked out. They are universally, intuitively understood. The pulldown menu, the checkbox, and the bureaucracy-inspired text entry form were invented 25 years ago, desperation devices to counter inadequate technology. They were created for a world that no longer exists. Twenty-five years from now, no one will be clicking on drop-down menus, but everyone will still be pointing at maps and correcting each others’ sentences.

“Informed criticism has completely been done in by the web because the web has produced so much uninformed criticism. Bad criticism drives good criticism out of circulation.

“Compared to excellent ink-and-paper designs, most current software communicates deplorably. The main cause is that many software designers feel they are designing a machine. Their foremost concern is behavior—what the software does. They start by asking: What functions must the software perform? What commands must it accept? What parameters can be adjusted? (In the case of websites: What pages must there be? How are they linked together? What are the dynamic features?) These designers start by specifying functionality, but the essence of information software is the presentation.

Instead of dismissing ink-and-paper design as a relic of a previous century, the software designer should consider it a baseline. If information software can’t present its data at least as well as a piece of paper, how have we progressed?

“Lewis Hamilton is the youngest driver ever to lead the F1 drivers’ championship. He also holds the record of being the only driver ever to finish in the top three in all of his first six Grands Prix and the only newcomer to have led the championship.

“There is a bridge over the Buckingham Canal, between Triplicane and Mylapore in Madras. Built early in the 19th century, it was named after a then Governor: Hamilton Bridge. This name was too difficult for the common people to pronounce, who ultimately called it Ambattan Bridge. This word in Tamil denotes a barber. In course of time, this was re-translated into English and the bridge came to be called Barbers Bridge. The Government have now directed that the present name be changed to the original one of Hamilton Bridge.