Form, Function, and Feelings: Redefining Beauty in Design

Have you ever wondered why some of the world's most successful brands and products are considered visually unappealing? The paradox of "ugly design" takes center stage as we unpack the surprising success stories hiding behind aesthetically challenged exteriors.

Crocs stands as perhaps the most emblematic case study – a widely mocked rubber clog that transformed into a billion-dollar global brand. We explore how function trumps form in this remarkable business success story, and why comfort and practicality ultimately outweighed visual appeal for millions of customers worldwide. The phenomenon extends beyond footwear into seasonal traditions like the beloved ugly Christmas sweater, where intentional garishness creates nostalgic connections and emotional resonance.

Beauty truly exists in the eye of the beholder, constantly shifting through time and cultural context. What appears jarring or unattractive today might become tomorrow's classic – just ask McDonald's, whose Golden Arches faced initial criticism in the 1950s before evolving into one of the world's most recognizable symbols. Sometimes, strategic "ugliness" serves a deliberate purpose, as with Spirit Airlines' intentionally cheap-looking branding that perfectly aligned with their budget positioning. Even tech giants like Google and Facebook began with rudimentary interfaces that prioritized function over beauty.

From Craigslist's stubbornly unchanged website to IKEA's famously wordless instruction manuals, we examine how minimal design approaches – sometimes perceived as "ugly" – can create distinctive brand identities that stand the test of time. The conversation challenges conventional wisdom about aesthetic appeal and invites listeners to reconsider what makes design truly successful.

What's your favorite example of "ugly design" that somehow works? Share your thoughts with us on Instagram and join the conversation about the beautiful paradox of aesthetically challenged success stories!

Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/

https://scottwoolley.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to iDesign Lab
• 0:50 What Makes Ugly Design Successful
• 2:34 Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Nostalgia
• 4:39 Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder
• 6:33 Ugly Design in Technology
• 9:34 Intentionally Ugly Branding
• 11:24 Closing Thoughts on Ugly Design

Transcript

Voice Over: 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design.

Scott Woolley: 0:50

Welcome to the iDesign Lab, where we tackle everything that you can think about having to do with design. Today we're going to talk a little about ugly design. We're going to have a little bit of a conversation about how ugly design is everywhere in our life and we normally don't even think about it, realize it, we sometimes laugh about it and actually sometimes, and a lot of times, ugly design does very well in retail and does very well as a business, from either logos to design of products or the way things work.

Tiffany Woolley: 1:23

Well, it has a lot to do with form equals function, so sometimes those two things don't equal beauty. So I mean, I think a funny example that kind of gets everybody's brain jogged is the Crocs shoe. Correct, Because obviously they're not attractive in any way, shape or form. However, it is a billion dollar brand right.

Scott Woolley: 1:47

So when crocs came out, everyone looked at it, saying what is that? Yeah? God how ugly could that be? Why would someone wear that? Exactly, but it became uh very, very big, even like most chefs, use some sort of croc. I don't know exactly why, because I think it's ergonomically Ergonomic situation which we've talked about before.

Tiffany Woolley: 2:11

So that's another reason that leads to ugly design too. Ergonomics in general doesn't lead to beautiful design. I think sometimes the beauty is in its cleanliness.

Scott Woolley: 2:24

Well, Crocs are comfortable.

Tiffany Woolley: 2:26

And Crocs are clean. It's one material. It's not busy, even though it's got a lot of detail. It's very simple.

Scott Woolley: 2:35

Yeah, so we wanted to spend a few minutes today on this podcast just to talk about ugly design. Like Crocs, as we just mentioned, another one that everyone kind of forgets about, but there's that one time of the year where everyone kind of it comes right back in your face and they call them the ugly Christmas sweaters. Oh, yeah.

Scott Woolley: 2:55

I think everybody probably has owned one or worn one and laughed about it. I mean, I've had a few over the years and when I would get one I would say I'm not going to wear this, this is as ugly as it could be.

Tiffany Woolley: 3:08

But then I find myself that it's nostalgic, it's kind of a feeling, I mean, and we operate on feelings in this world we live in nowadays, right, and just think of how many people have had ugly sweater or ugly.

Scott Woolley: 3:19

You know sweater parties or you have to attend the party wearing an ugly sweater.

Tiffany Woolley: 3:24

Yeah, they still do. It's like a thing. You're right, and I go back to the form and function but also, as I just said, feelings, because so much about design is a feeling and I know, even in the interior design field, a lot of you know high-end designers that I actually follow and you know look to for reference and inspiration. You know some people might be like, oh, that's ugly. So beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, correct, and there's some people who find simplicity ugly. There's some people who find, you know, over design ugly. But I kind of go back to, with design is like what has stood the test of time. So obviously an ugly design is kind of becomes a what do you call like a kitschy part of time. It's like, oh, you remember this or you remember that because of, like you said, ugly sweater or oh, croc generation or like these you know know super modern houses like was, like the Miami Vice, the 80s, and it's kind of coming back again.

Tiffany Woolley: 4:34

So I feel like it's proving to stand the test of time in the long run.

Scott Woolley: 4:39

But most if you walk into a house that was decorated in the 80s, most people walk into the house going oh my. God, how ugly is this. But back in the 80s that was like the end thing. So cool.

Tiffany Woolley: 4:51

And now, like you do walk into homes and you walk into places that are full of like a time warp and you do be like, oh my goodness, like how can somebody keep this? And I mean, who ever thought of a round bed being like a great idea? I mean it's kind of so. There's some things through generations and through time that we kind of scratch our head at, but for the most part, I feel like so some ugly comes in and out over the years.

Scott Woolley: 5:21

So some ugly stuff, yeah, is a fad, but then there's also ugly like, I think, about. Gapap changed their logo a number of years back and they changed just the font to a Helvetica font and there was such an uproar over what it looked like that literally six days later, gap quickly changed it across all of their retail platforms and stores, putting it back to the logo or the font that we know today.

Tiffany Woolley: 5:49

Well, sometimes, with design or referring to ugly design, it could also be really, in a nutshell, the lack of design. You could even say Apple is an ugly design, the brand of Apple. Their design is very sterile. It's very minimal, there is really no design. It's not like a beauty, but the beauty is in its simplicity. So it kind of taught us to appreciate it. So sometimes ugly design gets appreciated over time and over, as people's tastes evolve and grow your appreciation.

Scott Woolley: 6:27

Well, some of the ugly design is the lack of design or the lack of information. Great example of that is Ikea Ikea and almost everything that you buy, and it's a huge, huge, multi-billion dollar retail company. But when you buy something, almost everything has to be assembled and there's always been the complaints of the fact that there's no instructions. It's just pictures and it's a very difficult design for many people to follow and many people feel it's a really ugly way of which they've put their instructions together, but they've continued and it's made them successful and it's also because of that.

Tiffany Woolley: 7:12

People have talked about it, people complain about it, but they still— Well, they say as long as they're talking about you, it's a good thing, right, Right?

Scott Woolley: 7:18

So ugly design sometimes really works and is very helpful if it is ugly, because you'll get more PR out of it.

Tiffany Woolley: 7:25

I think that was probably the truth for Crocs as well, and I'm sure there's others along the way. We could consider that fell into that same category.

Scott Woolley: 7:37

Right. But then there's other, like the Internet. Think about Craigslist.

Tiffany Woolley: 7:42

Those are websites Correct.

Scott Woolley: 7:45

The Craigslist website is a very ugly. I mean there is no design, but it's very successful and it does what it needs. To do with very little and lack of design. Almost it's like a throwback to when the internet first started and they haven't changed it. I mean, even Google and Facebook when they first started was a really simple, somewhat ugly design, but it came about.

Tiffany Woolley: 8:11

Anytime there's innovation and there's things that are new, you're going to open yourself up to criticism which is ugly, design or function, and I feel like those feelings evolve over time. And it's same thing, like whenever, like I know, like they've mentioned, like when the Olympics changed their logo in London, and you know just things when people aren't prepared for those changes, all of a sudden it's like oh, that's ugly. I know. Like when we drive around town and there's a new building going up, you know that you're familiar with, you know that Walgreens used to be on the corner or what have you, but when you're driving around, you'll be like oh that's what they're putting there.

Tiffany Woolley: 8:53

Oh, like, how did that pass? You know the building department. You know after. I, like, deal with the building department on a daily basis, making our life miserable as we're trying to make things more beautiful, or even when it's historic properties. We're definitely trying to preserve beauty and history. They make our life crazy. But then all this ugly design gets approved. Like, how does that even happen?

Scott Woolley: 9:19

That I don't have an answer for, but if you think about it.

Tiffany Woolley: 9:22

It's a feeling.

Scott Woolley: 9:23

But there's also design where some of the ugly design is intentional Spirit Airlines when Spirit Airlines launched, they wanted to be known as an inexpensive airline to fly.

Tiffany Woolley: 9:35

So they wanted to look cheap.

Scott Woolley: 9:36

Yes, they wanted their logo. They wanted the way in which their planes were painted up. Logoed up was done to look kind of cheap and that would resonate with people going oh, that's an inexpensive airline. Even the way in which the interior of the planes were designed was kind of to make you feel as though this is a Low rent. Yeah.

Tiffany Woolley: 10:01

Again, you said feeling, so I really think a lot of this is feeling, and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Scott Woolley: 10:09

Right, but going back to the 1950s with McDonald's, when McDonald's launched.

Tiffany Woolley: 10:14

The Golden Arches, the.

Scott Woolley: 10:15

Golden Arches. People didn't quite understand. Okay, mcdonald's and an M, but people thought, like, what kind of logo or design is that? It didn't make sense. People thought back in the 50s and the early 60s, when McDonald's was starting out, that it was an ugly design. But people don't think about that today because it's a billion know, a billion dollar international brand.

Tiffany Woolley: 10:38

You know everywhere on the planet well, think of like even the 80s is definitely like hallmarked by neon and you know in the 80s kind of owns ugly design right you know, not just in residential, but just in the overabundance of kind of ugly, I guess.

Scott Woolley: 10:59

We'd love to hear from people and what they think is ugly design. If you've got an ugly design that you're familiar with hit us up on Instagram and let us know.

Tiffany Woolley: 11:13

Give us your best ugly.

Scott Woolley: 11:15

Yes, absolutely.

Tiffany Woolley: 11:17

Well, that's our tidbit for today.

Scott Woolley: 11:19

Thanks for being part of us with some ugly design.

Voice Over: 11:24

I Design Labs podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about I Design Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriorscom.