Dmitrii Kharchenko – Intersection

Today I would like to use this artists post to talk about the intersection between design and functionality. People often refer to digital design as the aesthetic of an interface/artwork, in other words: how it looks, how it feels and the emotional impact it has on the user. People refer to functionality as the purpose, mechanisms or feature sets of an application/artwork. For example a digital ad for a health insurance company may be designed in such a way that it looks and feels like a playful inviting artwork appearing visually pleasing to the user. Its functionality however is to turn a potential lead into a paying customer. However, one could argue that this dynamic, the design and functionality relationship, is in fact not mutually exclusive and that parts of design serve a purpose and vice versa. I do web development and throughout the process of designing and developing a website I often come to the conclusion that in order for something to be efficient and functional well, it must want to be used and operated. Dmitrii Kharchenko is a prime example of someone who really understands this dynamic and designs some of the most intuitive, cutting edge and feature rich sites i’ve ever seen. While working on a project for a company I noticed how my design was lacking a visual element to tie in the functionality, I was instantly reminded of Dmitrii’s work and found his dribble.com page. His work inspired me and allowed me to find a solution to my design problem.