ABSTRACT
There is indeed nothing new in the desire to provide joy in use within a context of functional and economic efficiency. This is exactly why the profession of industrial design exists, and it has been rather successful in elevating everyday products into the public consciousness as objects of aesthetic appraisal. So much so that ‘poor design’ as a descriptor is as likely to mean ‘I don’t like the design aesthetic’ as ‘It doesn’t function very well’. Jordan (1999) has already described the process whereby usability has moved from being a ‘satisfier’ when present, to being a ‘dissatisfier’ when absent, and this is similar to the position of aesthetic considerations in their broadest sense.
