I was just reading an older post at bokardo called Ugliness, Social Design, and the MySpace Lesson, and it definitely got me thinking. Yes, myspace by default is UGLY. So too is del.icio.us. but users flock to these sites they can personalize and make their own. There are other similar services out there (the elegant ma.gnolia comes to mind. But magnolia just doesn’t appeal to me like the basic ugliness of delicious. Why is that? Honestly, I think it may be the fact that web2.0 is about user created/categorized/modified content. Magnolia is obviously the creation of a designer, and therefore it is less “mine”.
An ugly interface may turn away casual visitors (I wanted to use the word ‘browser’, but the connotation wasn’t what I intended), unless the content is there to draw them in. However, the unadorned canvas calls out to the wannabe artist to beautify it. It is a place we can make our own, because any additions will be welcomed..
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