Much like the case of the egg and the chicken, there is a constantly changing viewpoint on a solution when it comes to the age-old question of form over function, or vice verse. My production philosophy is that it does not matter which comes first, they are both important and need to work together to achieve a common goal.

Form must be utilized effectively to allow the function of a product to remain accessible and intuitive. Making a product both attractive and practical.

Synergy of Form and Function

To understand how these concepts work to support each other, it is important to identify what each of them are and why their respective camps tend to prioritize one over the other.

For the purpose of demonstration we are going to use a fictional product.

Function

Historically, function has been left to the desires of a software product manager to spec out data sources, processing requirements, hardware requirements, requests and returns. From these specs he may create a list of functions, let’s say ten, required to make the product work properly. Then this list would be sent over to a programmer in a dark room to hack out. Depending on the type of project, this programmer would then create a series of utilities and wizards to satisfy the requested function specifications he received, and allow a user of the product to successfully achieve the mission they set out to accomplish.

At this point, we have a piece of software that can perform all ten of the functions that were specified. Success, right?

Form

The presentation, or form, of this application as it is seen by the end-user (public, its administrators and potential customers) is an essential, and often overlooked or under-estimated part of the process. Simply having functioning software, will not foster the level of comfort needed for new users to take full advantage of the software and perform equally as well as a veteran user.

This is where I can help. The end-user does not know, or even care that there are 10 or 20 programmed functions it performs behind the scenes to accomplish the requested task. They simply want to know that they can use this software as a tool to perform the job they set out to do, hopefully without a user-manual or costly technical support.

Play nice, you two!

Both form and function are required to produce the best product possible in today’s production environment. My job is to understand and organize the functions provided by your product, and present them to the end-user in a manner that is intuitive, consistent and simple to use. After all, they are your customer, not your enemy. Why confuse them or put them in an uncomfortable situation?

If you would like some advice or assistance in making sure that form and function are playing nice on your project, please feel free to let me know more about you and your project.

If you have more specific questions, please do not hesitate to Contact Me.