Inspired by Nature

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Here is a photo that I took yesterday of a flower in my yard. When ever I get stuck on a design or technical problem, I often try to get outside and away from technology for a little while. It is amazing how nature is full of elegant examples to design problems.

That is one of the reasons that I chose "Bee" for the name of my company instead of "info-digi-doc-tech-sci.com" or something like that.

For example: When you think about "documents," what comes to mind? For me, it is fluorescent lights, paper cuts, messy desks, and 3-ring binders that rip the paper because the rings don't line up exactly. The goal of our company is to change the way that information is managed from these very cumbersome and artificial means to something much more natural, elegant, and simple. Instead of digging through file cabinets looking for a lost receipt, imagine yourself a bee, hovering over a field of wildflowers, looking for a flower to pollinate.

Though it is much easier said then done, I think software developers in general can do a better job at elegance. Rather than copying each others bad designs, we can look to the way complex information and functions are organized in nature. I'm not just speaking about user interface design either. All the parts users can not see- classes, functions, data, code... can be beautiful too.

Labels: branding, flower, nature