As the saying goes, good design is 99% invisible.
It’s only when something is out of place that one notices its oddness. There’s actually an entire podcast devoted to this idea. It explores often overlooked aspects of design and states boldly on its homepage, “Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we’ve just stopped noticing.”
As a landscape design company, GreenRoots takes this idea seriously. As we say to our customers, you have to create a space that is both beautiful AND functional. It’s one thing to create an outdoor living space that looks nice but if it doesn’t allow the user (or, in this case, inhabiter) to actually operate in the space as they had hoped, we’ve missed the mark.
Before working at GreenRoots, I worked at a branding and web design agency where user experience was a paramount concern. Often referred to as UX, user experience has therefore emerged as a prominent field in digitally-focused business. One can even get a degree as a UX Strategist, Researcher, or Designer. Safe to say, UX can’t really be ignored.
But how do you explain UX?
From my time at the agency, one concept is frequently used to summarize what UX is:
This unpaved path is often referred to as a “desire path” and, of course, when I went to find the above image for this blog, I found that the 99% Invisible people had already written an article on the concept entitled “Least Resistance: How Desire Paths Can Lead to Better Design.” While some argue that the picture is not a complete summary of UX, the idea of taking the path of least resistance does show how we interact in the spaces around us, including (and in this case especially) the spaces in our own backyards.
UX in Landscape Design
Our clients often come to us and express a current pain point they hope to remedy. Commonly we hear that their current space is too hot or sunny, that there isn’t enough privacy, or that there simply isn’t enough space at all to do what they want to in their yard! And we want to help. Many of our solutions are directly influencing these painful factors. But in a photo, you wouldn’t necessarily notice.
Take, for example, this outdoor patio space we designed: Did your eye turn to the hardscaping, landscape lighting, or privacy screening? Or did you instead observe an inviting outdoor space in which to spend a cozy summer evening?
This screening creates comfortable privacy and blocks out the afternoon sun. The overhead lighting and landscape light allows the space to be used at night. And the hardscaping makes having outdoor furniture possible!
See some of our past screening solutions:
How can we help you?
Let us help you create a space that never sticks out but is impossible to miss.
See our full services listing online or call us for a free consultation.
