"Design is the new black"

I read that on Sean Coon's blog the other day, and I've been thinking about it. Especially since I'm such a fan of black.

Then today I pop over to Damien Rice's not so user-intuitive Web site, where I found a link promoting his new album, "Damien Rice 9." As an aside, the musical style of this Dublin-born singer-songwriter actually makes me feel, in the realest sense of the world, a simultaneous sense of uplift and wilt at the same time. An uplifting wilt, if you will.

Anyway.

When I checked out the new album's Web site, I saw the new black. Pushed myself back in my chair. Not over what I saw, but rather over the design of the site (Rice's lyrics are explicit, not the Web site, but then again time was when Huckleberry Finn's language was considered "explicit.")

Anyway.

The Web site is the new black, and a new kind of design that didn't overwhelm me with choices. I went there to hear the music and that's all the page did for me: play the music. And yes, I could have listened to the entire album on the Web site. For free. Instead, I went straight to iTunes and bought it before I even finished listening to the first song.

That's the thing. If something's brilliant, you don't have to worry about not getting anything back when you give it away.