The Good Enough Revolution - The Role of Aesthetics in User Experiences with Artifacts

The technological development takes place at a rapid pace, and in recent years it has led to a growing output of artefacts and services with digital content, where availability and low price seem to be the main parameters for success. This trend has been labelled the “good enough” revolution and has highlighted contemporary parameters for technological development. The present article presents this trend as a design movement that is characterised by introducing a new functionalism and challenging common perceptions that have emerged as a result of the 20th-century design story about “high quality” and “added value” in product development. In addition, the article introduces the concept of aesthetics as the basis for a discussion about user experiences in contemporary digital artefacts and argues that the good enough movement calls for a new understanding of aesthetics that springs from the role of digital artefacts in the user’s social life and plays a role in relation to technologically oriented design development.