a fusion of beauty and brains

Why can all digital design not look as elegant as this schematic to the left?

Okay, forgive me for tooting my own horn, because fact is that I designed this 4-bit register for a class project. But the Mentor Graphics Design Architect design tools are such an awful pain to use. Converting this to a physical mask layout is going to be the end of me… if I can ever figure out how to get past this step, that is.

Which brings me to a more important point: why do we put up with this kind of thing in our lives?  I understand that the Mentor Graphics tools are very powerful, but they make the design process so difficult.  Why do people continuously put up with using awful tools to create and fix important things??

WHY WHY WHY is there not more of a focus on usability of products but so much emphasis on the raw capability?

Anyway, I love this schematic, and I’ve made a resolution from this point to make sure all of my future designs reflect this kind of meticulous, consistent and graceful design.  I want someone to look at my designs and be like EXCELLENT, can’t wait to start messing around with these cell blocks (while doing the Mr.Burns hand gesture, no less).