Not wanting the best
Four years ago, around the time I started thinking about design, one of my friends visiting Princeton remarked to me how much he liked the campus, because he could feel all the care that was put into its design. At the time, I (in my head) immediately disagreed with him, one of my dominant objections being: if the people who designed campus really cared about student life, they would make more direct routes (diagonals) between buildings. I look back on that response now and find it really amusing. Not only have I cultivated a lot more appreciation for Princeton's campus since then (funny how our experiences shape our perceptions of a place 😊), but my design sensibilities have also evolved. I used to think that good design was all about efficiency—how can I best enable the user to accomplish their goals?—but that's engineering, not design! It may be kind of weird to read that, because the logical consequence is not wanting or designing for "the best." But I think th