True
Aesthetics are of course subjective. Design is in part subjective since it is in part concerned with aesthetics. Equally, however, a large part of design is about problem solving, and as such, it's results and effectiveness can be quantified.
Where a product is designed to appeal to a target audience, as the iMac and the Cube were, its effectiveness can easily be measured by the volume of sales. In this respect, the figures speak for themselves - the Cube failed to find a market. This was largely due to it's high price. In product design, price is always a consideration, and in this respect the Cube was poorly conceived.
The iBook has performed very well, and has proved to be extremely popular, so whilst I don't personally like the way it looks, I would conceed that it is a very effective design. Who knows, however, how much more successful it might have been if it had been design with a little more imagination. ;-)
Aesthetics are of course subjective. Design is in part subjective since it is in part concerned with aesthetics. Equally, however, a large part of design is about problem solving, and as such, it's results and effectiveness can be quantified.
Where a product is designed to appeal to a target audience, as the iMac and the Cube were, its effectiveness can easily be measured by the volume of sales. In this respect, the figures speak for themselves - the Cube failed to find a market. This was largely due to it's high price. In product design, price is always a consideration, and in this respect the Cube was poorly conceived.
The iBook has performed very well, and has proved to be extremely popular, so whilst I don't personally like the way it looks, I would conceed that it is a very effective design. Who knows, however, how much more successful it might have been if it had been design with a little more imagination. ;-)