Design - Abstraction

I am a big fan of UI/UX interfaces especially when it comes to software applications but I think of Design not from a web, print or even product perspective with rules that follow the principle of form follows function;  but interfaces or products that also go the other way around where function can follow form and evoke delight, emotions and holds for the user a sense of belonging, pride and deep yearning to return to use it more often.  Harry Beck was a 29-year-old engineering draftsman who had no idea about user interfaces or user experience principles yet contributed a breakthrough

invention with his design of the London Tube map which has become the defacto standard of all metro maps around the world.  The earliest designs of the London metro had landmarks of trees, museums and familiar places that people would know of. Beck's important design insight was when he realized that people do not care for these symbols when they are underground. All they want to know is where to get off and where to get on at a given station. He simplified the design in horizontal and vertical lines spaced the stations equally, color-coded the lines and routes like an elegant electrical circuit. This simplified abstraction of a user interface initially became pocket maps for early commuters and still followed by modern-day tube maps.

Programmers are very familiar with the concept of abstraction. In design principles for products or interfaces coming in the middle of abstraction is where the success of masterful design lies (at least that is how I comprehend it). European school of design be it in the crafting of writing instruments or the most beautiful car design have this inherently built into the craft of their production cycles. Make it too abstract the product or system becomes unusable, make it too realistic the design of the product or system becomes boring. Abstraction is coming in the middle where it might not be exact or perfect but user acceptance and connectivity with the design come to a place of universal embracing.