Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle...

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2007/05/28/070528ta_talk_surowiecki

JOHN HESKETT (Professor of design)
“As with other areas of professional specialization, interior design spans a wide spectrum of approaches and professional functions. At one pole are those concerned with the decorative layout of specific spaces and their contents using available furnishings and materials in terms of their overall aesthetic effect [...]

These tend to be the outcome of stylistic trends and personal taste on the part of designers and clients, and can be considered more in terms of compositions of existing elements rather than design from first principles.

At another pole, however, can be found the original creation of spatial concepts and layouts and the specification of equipment for specific purposes, such as offices, hospitals, or schools that have to meet a spectrum of often demanding criteria regarding health, safety and efficiency.“

John Heskett, Professor of Design
Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
from: Toothpicks & Logos, Design in Everyday Life. Oxford University Press, Oxford, Great Britain 2002.