Beauty and the Web
Ironically in our image obsessed world beauty for its own sake is undervalued.
Almost three years ago we were sitting around a table talking about what should be important to our then idea of a website: RedBubble. One of our first engineers, said he felt we should be seeking after beauty.
I recall being perplexed by this at the time. I have sat through a lot of corporate meetings striving to define “values”. And even within the freedom of vaporous rhetoric the word “beauty” is a step to far.
And so it is in our culture. The scientists will pull apart the universe to the last proton without getting a micron closer to beauty. The accountants will count to the last bean and beauty will not have been found. The economists will measure forecast to the third decimal place, and still the real value will not be uncovered.
Somehow it seems an ugly utilitarianism has pervaded our priorities. Beauty it seems is a casualty of our relentless desire to comprehend and value. Being without value, beauty is ignored.
I think much of the heat in the environmental debate springs from this. Ultimately what the environmentalists (so many of them scientists, to be fair) are trying to protect is that which cannot truly assessed. This does not mean their cause is not without resonant power.
And so it is on the Internet. Web design frequently pursues a relentless focus on functionality at the expense of any consideration of aesthetics. If any design ethos pervades the web it seems to be pursuit of banal utility. Too frequently this is simply ugly.
And the problem with ugly is that it diminishes us. Our humanity cannot be found in the protons or chromosomes of which we are made. It certainly may not be found in the value of our work (or the perhaps the weight of gold in our teeth). The beauty that can neither be found nor counted is at the heart of that which gives value to life.
Beauty is both part of the ultimate destination and our signpost that we are on the right road.
Martin Hosking is co-founder and Chairman of RedBubble. He is also Chairman of Aconex and sits on the board of Southern Innovation. Martin started his career with DFAT, serving as a diplomat in Egypt and Syria before joining McKinsey & Company, serving Australian clients focusing on emerging technologies. In 1996 he joined Evan Thornley and Tracey Ellery at LookSmart. He was with LookSmart in various senior roles through to its IPO in 1999 on the NASDAQ, when it became the highest returning investment ever for Australian VCs.
Martin Hosking is a co-founder of Redbubble (RBL.AX) and became the CEO in July 2010. Redbubble, the world’s leading marketplace for independent artists, listed on the ASX in May 2016. Previously, he was the Chair of Aconex, a SaaS provider to construction firms, and Southern Innovation, a digital pulse processing solution. He was instrumental in the development and subsequent listing on NASDAQ of search company, LookSmart. Martin started his career as a diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before joining McKinsey & Company, serving clients focusing on emerging technologies. He has a BA (Hons) from Melbourne University and an MBA (with Distinction) from Melbourne Business School, where he has also lectured. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
