This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Follow us on Twitter for more information on our products.

“David Ogiivy once said: “An agency ought to be on time, just like a good tailor.” But in defense, I’d like to say that I’ve got the best tailor outside of Rome—and he’s always late!”

Brilliant.

I get the point, but I hate furniture that looks good to observers but looks bad to people who actually use it and see more of it.

... or someone who worries about proper indentation of generated HTML :)

Perhaps by “backside” he means the backside and not the inside of a drawer.

Isn’t there in English an expression like “the devil is in the details”? I generally agree with the idea that one should only be concerned with “what matters”.

On the other hand, striving for perfection is an attitude that can give you an edge on the competitors. Just look to how Steve Jobs leads Apple…. he is known to consider important how apple products look inside (the first models even had autographs in their cases!!).

That’s because perfectionist’s goal is not to produce necessary stuff, his goal is to produce things he will be proud of. People really liking them is a side-effect.

This is the opposite of one of my woodworking teacher’s great lines: “if the queen don’t see it, we don’t care.” Meaning anything hidden (the back of a buffet, the backside of drawers, the underside of the top) can be unfinished, have notes scribbled on it, anything goes.

He’s a very pragmatic woodworker (the way most woodworkers were who had to make a living doing it).

I take it you’ve never read James Krenov’s writings? He’d make the back of his drawers as beautiful as the front, allowing and even encouraging the user to pull the drawer out and set it on top of the piece.

Hmm – I was always taught that when buying hand made cabinets, drawers etc., to always check underneath and in areas which are out of direct view to see if the carpenter had made the effort to keep things neat. I believe it was called craftsmanship.

These days, when I buy a new guitar for my collection, I always check inside the soundhole and use a mirror to check the bracing under the soundboard. Sloppy work, bindings coming off and giant blobs of glue usually equate to a lousy guitar.

Someone will always see the back side, and judge the entire product by it.

I’m not really sure about this anti-attention to detail line of thought..

(After reading the entire interview a few hours later I’d say there are many quotes more interesting than that one.)

Like this one, which can be seen a nice comment on the Apple vs HTC situation:

I’d like to propose a new idea for our age: until you’ve got a better answer, you copy. [...] Solve the problem. Then, if through the years a personal style begins to emerge, you must be the last to know. You have to be innocent of it.

Imagine if layout ideas could be patented..