Form and Function The following document is edited material from: Does Form Follow Function? By Steven Bradley

Some Basic Definitions Form: The external appearance of a defined space; the style or design of a specific area Function: The purpose for which something is designed or exists

Does Form Follow Function? That IS the question. You have likely heard the phrase “form follows function,” but have you really thought about what it means or what it implies about web design, architecture, language, or art? On the surface, “form follows function” seems to make a lot of sense. The way something looks should be determined by its purpose. Is this really true? Does the phrase hold up upon deeper inspection?

Who Came Up with this Phrase? Form  Follows  Function While sometimes attributed to sculptor Horatio Greenough, the phrase “form follows function” was coined by American architect Louis Sullivan, in his 1896 article, “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered.” Sullivan wrote: “It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law.”

At the time, the late 1800s, technology, tastes and economics were rapidly changing—but buildings still utilized principles of ancient architectural design. Sullivan believed that a new form for buildings was needed, and he thought that the form ought to come from the function of a building--not historical precedent. This new form became the modern structural steel skyscraper. The Rise of the Modern Skyscraper

The Skyscraper What function do you think this form was trying to fulfill?

Frank Lloyd Wright, who was the assistant to the architect, Sullivan, adopted the phrase “form follows function” and further promoted it. The Guggenheim Museum is a good example of Wright’s application of the principle. It’s spiral shape was intended to allow visitors to easily view the artwork within.

Design your Own Clock Observing the phrase “form follows function” as a hard and fast rule, imagine you are hired to design a clock. What would your clock look like?

A designer might conclude that the simplest, fastest and most accurate way to show time would be on a digital display. Digital clocks are not particularly beautiful, though.

Analog displays are more aesthetically pleasing to most people. They aren’t quite as accurate, and people usually need an extra moment or two to tell the time, but they are generally nicer to look at. So should form always follow function?

Success Criteria  Rather than use “form follows function” as an inflexible rule, let’s design our clock based on success criteria.  Success criteria, not function, may at times better determine form.  How do you determine your success criteria? Ultimately, you have to define them yourself (or ask your audience) to define them. 1. Identify everyone with a stake in the project 2. Determine the goals of each stakeholder 3. Prioritize the goals 4. Decide and consider how success will be measured

Applying Success Criteria to Our Clock Is the clock that sells best the most successful? What if fewer clock sales could bring greater profit? Who is going to buy and see our clock? Is being able to tell the time at a quick glance more important to buyers than making a statement on their living room wall? How much are people willing to spend on a clock?

Ultimately, you have to determine the goals of your clock and how you will measure the success of those goals. You could decide on an accurate digital clock for mass consumption or a work of art hanging in the terminal of a major railroad station. Perhaps your clock will need to be both beautiful and accurate.

Beautiful Things Function Better People spend more time with products that they find beautiful, and they claim they are easier to use. The products seem to function better because they are beautiful. Human beings have an attractiveness bias: We perceive beautiful things as being better, regardless of whether they actually are better. All else being equal, we prefer beautiful things, and we believe beautiful things function better. Perhaps function can follow form?

Does Function Follow Form? Researchers in Japan set up two ATMs, identical in function, the number of buttons, and how they worked. The only difference was that one machine’s buttons and screens were arranged more attractively than the other. In both Japan and Israel (where this study was repeated) researchers observed that subjects encountered fewer difficulties with the more attractive machine. Did the attractive machine actually work better?

Does Beauty Impact Function? A beautiful product can trigger positive emotions that inform your judgment of its usability. The product does not necessarily function better, but you perceive it as functioning better because of its looks. You can define aesthetics in many ways, but it comes down to connecting thought, emotion and beauty. How something looks affects us emotionally and influences what we think about it. If pure aesthetics influence our perception of a product’s functionality, if we are willing to take an extra second to learn how to use things that we find beautiful, and if we think objects function better because they are beautiful, then does form follow function or does function follow form?

Balancing Form and Function: So Should You Ignore the Rule Completely? No, Not At All! Use the descriptive interpretation of “form follows function” as an aesthetic guide. Beauty often does come from function. A building should not look like a boat or a magazine. Each has a different function, and that function helps to define what makes it successful. Pure function may not be the most important factor of success. Balance form and function as needed, while letting success criteria guide your decisions.

Google’s home page is little more than a search box. Over time, links have been added, but the page has clearly been designed around its primary function, which is search. The sparse design is likely a key factor in Google’s early success. Other search engines at the time did not have pages that communicated a single clear function. Function, no doubt, guided Google’s success criteria. The only thing the company wanted a visitor to do upon reaching the home page was to type a query in the box and click the “Search” button.

Craigslist is perhaps the poster child for subordinating form to function. Many think the website could use a redesign, the website’s design, while not aesthetically pleasing, is functional. As with Google, Craigslist’s success was based on functional considerations. Beautiful it is not, but the website does work. It doesn’t take long for anyone who stumbles on the website to learn how to use it. Would aesthetic considerations have made the website easier to use and made Craigslist even more successful?