In the New York Times Annual “Year in Ideas” issue, that came out this past Sunday, December 13, 2009, there are a collection of ideas that the editors believe characterized the year. One idea that caught my attention was titled, “Good Enough is the New Great,” and was described by Robert Mackey. Mackey contends that everywhere you look, people are accepting a lower level of technology and quality in exchange for ease-of-use and lower cost. Mackey provides examples such as the growth of Flickr, which displays snapshots often taken with cell phones and cheap point and shoot cameras. Despite the easy availability of multi-megapixel cameras with zoom lenses and auto focus, iPhone images are “good enough.” Although high definition plasma TV’s are available, more and more people spend time watching blurry, low-res videos on their laptops or iPhones. Younger audiences he contends, actually prefer the lower-end sound of music on an iPod than then the crisper fidelity of a CD and so forth. In the field of graphic and web design, this has been true for some time, although 2009 put the ! on the concept.
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