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Hasso Plattner's design philosophy: No 'artsy fartsy'

Hasso Plattner, SAP co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board, has a strong affinity for design. He donated $35 million to fund a new design school at Stanford University, and has been teaching at the school in Palo Alto, CA.
Written by Dan Farber, Inactive
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Hasso Plattner, SAP co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board, has a strong affinity for design. He donated $35 million to fund a new design school at Stanford University, and has been teaching at the school in Palo Alto, CA.

When asked during a keynote at Software 2007 about his software design philosophy, he responded: "The most minimalistic form is the best. The more Baroque colors and elements just convolutes it. Form does not overwhelm the content....beautification is the wrong way." 

"Beautiful, with all respect to arts, is not helping," he continued. "Apple looks better and nice, but does it really change anything?," he said, allowing that he doesn't spend a lot of time on the Mac. He cited Google as doing design the right way, with minimalist design that focuses on fast response time. "In the end, it's the quality of the applications and being appropriate to user needs for the task. It's more important than being artsy fartsy."  No argument on that point, although rounded edges aren't all bad...

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