The Devil is in the Details

Why does a MacBook feel so sensual while other laptops lack the same emotion? They’re basically the same rounded box, right? The devil is in the details.

Joshua Maruska Demo

This post continues my recent interest in how form communicates meaning. First, Gray Holland wrote about how surfaces can communicate meaning, now Joshua Maruska gets into the details of how to actually do it. Joshua does a nice demo for Alias on how to make a simple, rounded square into a high quality set of surfaces: something that looks geometric, but feels organic.

This approach isn’t always necessary, but we designers need to be aware of when these details matter and when they don’t. For a piece of consumer electronics (where aesthetics are critical), it definitely does.

Check out the rest of the article, Devil in the Details, highly recommended for anyone who knows Alias well but wants to step up their craft.

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Monday, March 30th, 2009 Aesthetics, Implementations

2 Comments to The Devil is in the Details

  1. This was a great post. I have more fun going through the design process in Alias, and have unconsciously noticed this occurrence, but never knew what it was that was making designs look so unfinished. I wonder if this sort of thing is possible in solid modelers like Solidworks or Pro-E. The look you get from these programs is instantly what came to mind…

    2. Amanda D. on April 6th, 2009

  2. Great post Mike! Alias definitely gives the user the precise control that a lot of solid modelers lack. Amanda, with the use of splines in Solidworks and the Curve Edit features in Pro/E, the user is able to create a similar effect…

    3. Jacob NItz on April 11th, 2009

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