Chances are pretty good that you’re reading this post on a laptop computer, and though you might not know it, you have Bill Moggridge to thank for the clamshell design of your beloved device. Moggridge died at 69 on September 8, and his legacy in design is a great source of inspiration for our Monday morning.
A British-born designer, Moggridge championed a human-centered approach in design. He valued design as a means to solving problems, and advocated for the value of design in everyday life. At the time of his death, he was the director of Smithsonian Insitutite’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the only museum in the US devoted to historic and contemporary design. He also co-founded IDEO, a widely respected innovation and design firm.
Moggridge is best known for having designed the first laptop computer. Released in 1982, the GRiD Compass featured a keyboard and a 6-inch screen held together by a hinge that allowed the device to fold in the middle like a clamshell. Though laptop computers have become smaller and lighter over the years, engineers rely on Moggridge’s basic design to this day.
He once said, “There is nothing made by human beings that does not involve a design decision somewhere.” We are constantly in conversation with the design around us, whether that’s something as simple as viewing typography on a poster, or something as complex as the elements of the car you drive everyday.
Moggridge strongly advocated for a high level of usability in design, which is an essential approach to consider in our realm of presentation design. The design of our presentations must be easily accessible to the average person because above all, the ultimate goal of our presentations is to disseminate information as simply and effortlessly as possible. Our design should reflect that end goal. If it’s not highly accessible and extremely usable, it will not resonate with our audience.
“Our intuition, our ability to feel, our ability to understand without being able to explain. All of those things are relatively subjective in subconscious,” Moggridge said. “And what design does is to harness those attributes in the process.”
These poignant words offer a wealth of inspiration to draw from when designing a presentation. Get into the subconscious of your audience. Expertly understand how the design of your presentation will make them feel. Use subtle elements of your design to steer your audience precisely where you want them to be.
