Specialty of Design
By Dr. Robert DeVargas
Ever wonder how many different styles of shoes are there in the world? Probably not. So, indulge me for a moment and think about it: Among all dress, casual, work, and athletic shoes—how many different styles of shoes are on the market? A thousand? Ten thousand? Hundred thousand? A quick glance just at Adidas’ current line of men’s sports shoes shows 572 different products. Add to that the 318 styles of woman shoes and 188 styles of children’s shoes and we have over a thousand styles and colors from which to choose. Online wholesalers of footwear list tens of thousands of items imported from who-knows-where. All to keep the little piggies happy. Is it reasonable to think that, worldwide, possibly hundreds of thousands of styles of shoes and boots are available? Probably. (Please don’t tell my wife this.)
So I ask, why so many? Our feet are basically the same. We’ve got two of them—a right and a left. Five toes on each. And we use them for basically the same purpose—to get us from here to there. So why the big selection of footwear? Why not just use a standard-issue “one-style-for-all” pair that does the job? Two reasons: form and function.
Me, I’m a function kind of guy. I love things that work well. Give me the right tool for the job. If I’m shooting in the mountains of southern Africa, I want sturdy hiking boots. For wading across Yosemite’s river, I’ll choose breathable bootfoot waders. Sailing a catamaran off the Gulf coast of Texas I use torsion-controlled sailing shoes made of a quick dry synthetic. If it works well and gives me the edge, I’m happy.
But form also has its place. The “look and feel” of something yields more than just function and control. It brings a certain affective, emotional element to the equation. Ask any avid dress shoe wearer. This may be the reason for the proliferation of shoe styles. As George Hanna, president of the Shoe Manufacturers Association of Canada insightfully pointed out to me, it’s all about “fashion.” And fashion makes you feel good because it makes you look good. Or at least it should. A pleat, a strap, a buckle (or lack thereof) all contribute to “the look.” And looks are important.
So the one-style-for-all misses the mark on all levels. Functionally, it can’t deliver on performance. How can it? There are too many disparate needs out there. Neither can one-style-for-all bring the breadth of appeal that fashion attracts. This is why form and function must be customized to fit unique needs, goals and personalities.
We’ve seen the one-size-fits-all scenario in the world of web applications: A business has a specific need and wishes to leverage the Internet to do wonderful things with their data. So what do they do? They get sucked into buying a supposedly customizable, off-the-shelf package. And because it’s one-size-fits-all, it’s unusually large and expensive and difficult to use. And in the end it falls short. Either it doesn’t truly do what is needed, or it’s simply unwieldy to use. Often, the business is forced to change their strategy to somehow fit themselves around the data tool—like learning how to ice skate with a pair of flippers. Seems backward?
Instead, the business should be more discriminating. Why not dream about the perfect solution and then design it with all its buckles and bows? First, identify the core functionality you need and then throw in some non-essential frills you want. Hey, even the ruby red slippers had sequins. Then let an experienced web app developer take your ideas and bring them to life. Let them build your solution to be just that: your solution—one that has the exact form and function that you envisioned. And it does just what you need it to do.
Look down at your shoes for a moment. Is anyone else around wearing shoes just like yours? Then why should your company?
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