UI and Capability

Thoughtful post on UI and Capability by Ryan Singer. Contains several important points, among them:

“Affording a capability and styling it are both important. But it’s essential to know which one you are doing at a given time. Style is a matter of taste. Capability and clarity are not.”

I like this distinction and tend to follow a similar procedure myself. Early on in a design project I don’t care at all about style…it’s all about achieving clarity around the primary function (ie capability) and iterating and prototyping until it works. Then, and only then, do I turn my attention to style.