Josh’s Design Philosophy Rule #453251: Great new software or software features do not necessarily make anyone say “WOW!”

Rather, the great new software would do well if the user didn’t even notice she was using new software at all. This is a lesson I learned a long time ago, but the ideas behind this are coming back to me constantly during my Typography class. The best typography simply lets you view the words. Many people who make typefaces are artists, but the best ones do not let their egos adorn letters with silly additions that simply aren’t needed. Look at the letters you read every once in a while, you’ll see amazing things in them. You take tons of emotional value from the typeface, but generally you don’t (and should not) notice. The same should be true of software.

Yesterday I was invited to be a beta tester for a new Web Calendar service called 30 Boxes. People are saying that it will revolutionize the calendar in the same way that Gmail revolutionized Email, or Flickr revolutionized photos on the web. At first blush, there was nothing that made me say, “WOW!!” It looks like a pretty standard web calendar with some AJAX mixed in to make it a little more responsive. After some thought, though, it seems pretty slick. It let me easily add entries to the calendar (though recurrence could use some work), and was easy enough to navigate. Add to this a simple, utilitarian interface and I’d say I’m a pretty happy user. This thing knows how to get out of the way and let me interact with the things I should be doing.

Good job so far, I say, especially since it was the first day of their beta launch.