An Event Apart: Design to Scale

A large part of scale has to do with context

• the feature
  
• the surroundings

Inevitable growth:

• whenever you put a site or a product out there, it has the potential to gain a growing following
  
• we need to expect and plan for future growth

Examples of companies that have scaled through replication:

• McDonalds
  
• Starbucks
  
• Ikea

"Delight the eye without distracting the mind"

• Your final result can't just be pretty - it still has to serve a purpose.

The hidden interface:

• Simplicity is powerful - the best designs only include features that people need to accomplish their goals. 
  
• "Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations" -Paul Rand

iPhone - it's design makes it easily replicable across the world.

Engage beginners and attract experts.

• The designs appear to be simple on the surface but should include powerful features beneath the surface. 
  
• If you attract power users, their expertise will drawn in other users as well. 

Free your mind:

• Scale requires flexibility

Tomorrow, the World:

• Eventually, there will be a time to take your product to the next level.
  
• Web audience is ultimately a global audience
  
• We need to recognize that the US is not the center of the web.
  

Consider the factors of scale without getting tripped up. Have a little bit of allowance for room for expansion while also designing for the audience you have now.

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