Social Design

Ugly when compared to pre-existing notions of taste is a bummer. But ugly as a representation of mass experimentation and learning is pretty damn cool. Regardless of what you might think, the actions you take to make your MySpace page ugly are pretty sophisticated. Over time, as consumer-created media engulfs the other kind, it’s possible that completely new norms develop around the notions of talent and artistic ability.

Ze Frank in seinem Stück zu MySpace

requoted via Joshua Porter – Ugliness, Social Design, and the MySpace Lesson

MySpace is the ultimate site when it comes to reframing the debate in terms of user experience, usability, and most importantly what matters to users. In the world of user experience its all about figuring out what matters to users, and the MySpace example (and most of the teenage world) is a true enigma for us all. That’s why MySpace is so damn interesting…because we don’t understand it! And that’s why it’s such a good example of understanding users, because most people who do that for a living (usability folks, designers, interface hacks) have few preconceptions about the service (or negative ones) because they don’t use it, don’t understand why people do use it, and don’t want to use it. In most other applications designers have preconceived notions because they’re familiar with the domain in some way. Not so on MySpace.

(MySpace ist ja wirklich so eine Art Höllentrip, aber die einzige Seite bei der ich bisher irgendwie das Gefühl rhizomatisch hatte)