The Power of Ugly Visual Design

Ugly visual design has it’s place. I like it best when it’s contrasted with good design, to accentuate it’s ugliness..or to elevate what’s good. Good visual design has purpose, it’s aesthetically pleasing and is a technical blend of type, color, image, concept and layout.

You are probably already waiting to ask: but what is good and bad design really? And isn’t it in the eye of the beholder? It certainly is. And that’s where it’s power comes from. Check out the brilliant use of ugly visual design (UVD) at Facebook. Everything at Facebook is very well considered. Every icon is small, compact, relevant and easy to recognize and use. Except one very big, very obvious, very ugly one.

The default “?” avatar.

Had to protect the identity of the default icon user!

This beauty of an icon is terribly ugly. Yet, the design of the icon is strategic. You want to get rid of it. Your friends want you to get rid of it. The peer pressure is tremendous - they want out of their profile! Why? Because when you leave your icon in it’s default “?” state, you aren’t just making your profile look ugly, you are polluting your friend’s profiles.

What better way to encourage people to get a great image for themselves online than real-world peer pressure?