Design reveals intent. Art obscures it.

Art obscures the intent, leaving it up to the beholder to figure it out. Design has to reveal it immediately.

The Mona Lisa… no one knows for sure who she is, why Leonardo painted her and not someone else, why she is smiling…

Imagine if you were looking at a web page thinking: what is this? Is this a button? Can I click on it? What will happen if I do? If you are, the next thing you will do is abandon the site… or maybe click that “button” because now you are curious about what the intent of it is.

Good design is invisible.

Visitors to the website are not looking at the screen thinking: great choice of colors, look at the photograph, such a nice font… They come with an intent to do something, and if they cannot see how to do it, they will go somewhere else.