Paul Graham is one of my favorite bloggers (or essayist as he calls himself). Below are my notes on his collection of essays — Hackers & Painters.
** indicates my comments
We need good taste to make good things. Can we use one field’s discoveries about beauty to help us in another? The same axioms of good design apply in many fields.
Simple
In math, a shorter proof is better. In painting, a still life of carefully observed and solidly modeled objects is more interesting than a repetitive painting of a lace collar. Underneath the long words and “expressive” brush strokes, there’s not much going on.
Timeless
Proofs are timeless unless it contains a mistake. If you can imagine someone surpassing you, you should do it yourself. The greatest masters did this so well that they left little room for those who came after. Also, timelessness evades fashion.
Solves the right problem
Serif fonts are more legible. They solved the right problem.
Physics progressed faster as the problem became predicting observable behavior, instead of reconciling with scripture.
Suggestive
A painting that suggests is more engaging than one that tells.
In architecture, a good building will serve as a backdrop for whatever life people want to lead in it, instead of making them live as if they are executing a program written by the architect.
Slightly funny
Dürer’s engravings, Saarinen’s Womb Chair, original Porsche 911, Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. Humorless things can’t be called good design.
