Great tools choose to be bad at some things — Steph Ango

Resist criticizing tools for what they are bad at. Resist designing tools that are well-rounded. Instead, choose to be bad at something.

Tools convert something you can do into something you want to do. A pencil converts hand movements (what you can do) into markings on paper (what you want to do) with the purpose of conveying an idea. New tools cause revolutions when they make costly things cheap. But making something cheap usually means making something else more expensive. The design space is in axes of difficulty that can be flipped. It’s okay to make one thing harder if you can make something else much easier. Design is compromise. Ask yourself, what can you afford to make more costly? 3D modeling tools make it easy…

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• Bonnie Chin

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