It’s also how it looks like
For the last four years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some colleague designers, who’ve made me questioning a couple of things.
I was new in Acid Labs as an UX-UI and Front-End Designer and at that time some coworkers started talking to me about the aesthetics in a design. I clearly remember when they said:
“It doesn’t matter how a design looks, it’s about how it works”

My mind was laughing at that point but indeed I began questioning myself about it (I always question myself in order to understand if I am wrong on certain thoughts). So, I was wondering why did they say such a thing (trying to being a nice guy because it was my first week at Acid Labs then). What I did was asking them to find out more about their intentions but of course, their arguments were quite vague like: “That’s just cuteness, we do not have time to waste”. Thus, I decided by myself to take it as a homework and began to reflect my perspective about the User Interface Design Aesthetic in a Digital Product.
So…
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, “Make it look good!” That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -. Steve Jobs
“Design is how it works, design is how it works (Bis)”
-. Me: Wrong Mr Jobs.
Okay, let us have a closer look to the previous paragraph and analyse it together:
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like”
— Okay, all of us designers understand that line but maybe not every ordinary person, so assuming that, then it’s true.
“It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
— Okay ,“It’s not JUST”, this is the part of the sentence that most people didn’t read properly and then, there occurred a problem for a lot of designers because they just pay attention to the final part of the sentence “Design is how it works…. The End”. This means, it is also about how it looks, and a lot of companies like Google and LinkedIn for example take that sentence from Jobs seriously and their products are actually pretty much a mess and with a very low value for users in its aesthetics and experience. Actually, most of recurrent people know how to use a Google’s suit because of their cognitive process and daily interaction more than the value that can be reflected because of the quality design of their products. There are a lot of designers that think like this, if you do not agree at all with this then, just compare products from Apple and then put them on aside Google’s (Yeah, Apple it’s not just Jobs, it’s Ive too 😌 so, i’m not contradicting myself 😆). It’s okay, I don’t pay for Google services so I forgive them but there is a bunch of digital products that I pay for and I really think, they are a complete mess.
Let’s begin with examples. I love examples:
A Mercedes:

There is a ton of characteristics that define a Mercedes: it’s beauty, it’s motor, it’s comfort, it’s aesthetics, and many more. The blend of all these features we used to call “Engineering”. A Mercedes is not only its motor. The perfect blend of its aesthetics with its motor is the perfect result of a great value product that reflects its quality and of course, price. So, yeah — it does matter how it looks & feels & works.
This is why for a long time people understand the value of every kind of product that fits with their desires and needs and actually these are the products that break rules, that set trends and live through the years on and on. The same thing happens in digital products, the power that can create a well-formed team of designers and developers thinking and developing a product only make the product takes it’s own value and experience for users and clients that interact from their needs with a beautiful and wonder journey called: Quality ❤️.
Confidence ☺️
The perfect blend of the previous example creates in users important feelings (Let’s talk about this later) like confidence. That little word that sometimes gets forgotten, with deadlines, team egos, ignorance and lazy thoughts, by workers when they develop an important digital product. Without confidence as a result into a digital product it doesn’t matter if your code or design works well into a methodology, it won’t be accepted in this Passion Age we’re living and against the opponents.
This is the moment when psychology adds to a product from a beautiful door called: Design. The psychologist design process has always been present for a product (Well, not always since it depends on the designer to consider it). The “Look & Feel” of a product make it more valuable and of course more confident for users, it creates a “paranormal” aura in users which lets them make decisions like buying socks into a product e-commerce, transferring money to friends and parents in an online bank app, buying digital coins in a game or even buying a house or medicines in some countries. The confidence can be reached thanks to a perfect blend between how it works, how it feels and of course, how it looks. If any of the previous words doesn’t apply on a digital product, the error gap would be very considerable, and, in most of the times, the digital product would be an entire fail with awful analytics conversions. This is why we do always have the task to think and sell the time to fit a beautiful and fitting interface for a product, this will be an essential point for a digitally successful product too.
Okay, at this point you might think: Oh! this little hipster with a sense of fashion and thinking of colours and shapes, thinks he is right because of his ego or something like that haha 😆. Well, let’s underline my point with some examples in order to make myself clear to you.
Aesthetic sells, that’s a fact. We could show proof with a car, an apartment, digital product, fashion store, and even the food in a restaurant, don’t you think?
Most of the people have a visual acceptance in their minds before making decisions, before even thinking. Selecting a desert on the menu will be easier with a picture and of course on a website or even if it comes to decide if downloading an app or not on our smartphone.

We are visual humans. Aren’t we?
Aesthetic it’s the experience before experiencing it -. Javier Arocha
In Acid Labs we are always thinking of how to make the perfect blend between how it works, how it feels and how it looks. This is why we do have incredible experience with greatest digital products in our hands.
Thank you for taking your time to read this, i do really really hope being a little helpful with my position and of course i am curious about your thoughts on this ❤️.
Love for all of you Medium readers 💪!
Javier Arocha.
Digital Product Designer at Acid Labs.
