Beauty, Art, and Software
It may seem unintuitive to think of our work as software developers to be related to art and beauty, but a number of writers have made a connection between technology and art.
In a New York Times article titled "Why We Love Beautiful Things," the author draws a connection between art, design, and mathematical principles, claiming that “if every designer understood more about the mathematics of attraction, the mechanics of affection, all design—from houses to cellphones to offices and cars—could both look good and be good for you.” Relatedly, one can think of mathematical beauty, which is the beauty inherent in mathematical concepts.
Even the processes we use to create software have connections with art. Steven Ropa creates a metaphor between effective teams and jazz combos. Lee Devin and Rob Austin draw a connection between software production and theatrical production in Artful Making.
"Software Patterns" draws upon the work of architect Christopher Alexander as a model for finding a path to build software that has a "Quality Without A Name," which in essence is the quality good systems have that is sometimes difficult to describe.
Others have explored connections between some software systems and literary figures. In a video, Maria Konnikiva discusses the connection she sees between Twitter and Sherlock Holmes’ ability to multitask effectively.
Thinking about connections between beauty, art, literature, and software may not seem as immediately useful as learning a new language, framework, or methodology, but doing so can help you be a better developer and designer by exposing you to different ways of thinking, or even improving how you think. For example, there are studies that show that some literature boosts brain function.
It’s possible to draw lessons from non-traditional sources that help you build better software systems. The time you spend on this could be part of work-life balance or just a general curiosity about the world that leads you to want to explore and solve problems.
Even if there are no direct benefits, thinking about the relationship between art, design, and software might be a fun distraction to consider when you need some down time, perhaps even more rewarding than watching productivity-boosting cat videos.
Can you think of a something you learned from art or design that helped your work or your project? Did it simply inspire you, or did it lead to a direct benefit? From what non-traditional places do you learn things that help you build better software?
