[Marketing] Metropolis Mag on Sugar

[Sean DALY]

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090318/a-good-argument

"Viewing designs as arguments frees us from the art world’s tendency
to evaluate on aesthetic criteria alone. It insists on contextual
evaluation: design is not just about how a thing looks or how it
works; it is also about the assumptions on which it rests. The new One
Laptop per Child XO computer, the MIT Media Lab’s $100 machine for
children in developing countries, lacks the sleek eye appeal of a
Mac­intosh and has been criticized for pioneering a non-Windows user
interface based on a theory rather than user testing. But a full
appraisal would note that it is an argument for closing the digital
divide based on the theory of “learning by making,” which assumes that
children learn by creative experimentation and making social objects.
A polished-aluminum case and a user interface rooted in files,
folders, and wastebasket metaphors would be irrelevant in rural
India."