Design

Design (What)

To design is to:

  1. Imagine something that does not yet exist.

  2. Figure out how to make this thing a reality.

  3. Build it or work with others who build it.

Design is a process (method) that can be taught, learned, and applied. Anyone can become quite good at design, but they need to learn how.

Examples of Design

Engineering Design

  1. Imagine a bridge across a river.
  2. Figure out how to build it.
  3. Oversee the construction of the bridge.

Clothing Design

  1. Imagine a warm coat for wet conditions in the winter.
  2. Figure out how to make this coat.
  3. Sew the coat or work with others who do the sewing.

Process Design

A process is a set of actions for achieving one or more worthwhile outcomes. Processes are designed.

  1. Imagine a better way to get ready to take a trip.
  2. Figure out the actions you would need to take.
  3. Write these actions down so that you can use them on each trip you take.

Writing a Novel

  1. Imagine a story that can and should be told.
  2. Figure out the essence of this story.
  3. Write this story.

Architecture

  1. Imagine a building that meets a client’s needs.
  2. Figure out how to create this building.
  3. Oversee the construction.

Shopping

  1. Imagine better results from your weekly shopping trip.
  2. Figure out a new method for doing your shopping.
  3. Apply this method and reap the rewards.

Historical Example

The year is about 1898.

  1. Imagine a machine that will fly through the air.
  2. Figure out how to build such a thing.
  3. Build it.

Success was achieved on December 17, 1903, by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA.

Summary

Anything that is created by humans has been designed. This design can be explicit (purposeful) or implicit (done by intuition).

Rationale for Design (Why Learn How to Design)

  1. Feel the satisfaction that comes from creating things and seeing them built in the real world.

  2. Enjoy the challenge because design is not easy.

  3. Create things that people love and enjoy the satisfaction you get.

  4. Sometimes, design provides good financial returns.

  5. Solve problems by designing solutions to these problems.

  6. In some professions—engineering and architecture for example—design is considered an essential skill.

  7. Better World. Designers build a better world for humanity. For example, we get houses, automobiles, airplanes, nice clothes, interstate highways, mobile phones, the internet, bridges, and so forth because of the work of skilled designers.

  8. Creator. As a designer, you get to create the world. This is super fun.

  9. Financial. People who can design well are always in demand. Products that are designed can make a great deal of money: think about the products sold by Apple, Toyota, Tesla, and so on.

  10. Competence. In some professions such as engineering and architecture, one cannot be competent unless they are good at design.

Design (How To)

Principles

  1. The essence of design is to create results that the end users love. That, is create high quality results.

  2. Effective design yields the best results with the fewest drawbacks.

  3. The best designers seek elegant simplicity.

  4. Function refers to what a design does. Function comes before form (how the design looks). Typically both are super important and perhaps essential.

Design is an iterative process that involves steps that you repeat over and over until the quality of the result is high enough to stop.

  1. Design: Imagine part or all of your final result that you can easily and quickly build in some form: sketch, model, prototype, or similar. Figure out how to build it.

  2. Build: Build whatever you imagined in your previous step.

  3. Test: Gauge the quality of your design.

    1. If the quality is high enough, then stop.
    2. Otherwise, create your next design revision and build some semblance of it.