Design is everything but can your design have everything?

Design is in everything — from the way our eyes are placed on our faces to the way the sun’s rays shoot through the clouds, everything follows this silent rule of pattern and form. So much so that the very art of writing is guided by the balanced placement of typeface and lines. Although overlooked in times past, today, we discover that people are paying more attention to form as much as they are to function. A hot iron’s job is originally to press clothes, but the manufacturer has taken a lot of time to consider how it will perform ergonomically and how it will sit among other pieces of furniture. Since it is evident that design is part of our life, why then are some entrepreneurs paying very little or no attention to it?

I realized that people actually pay attention to design but few people understand the fundamentals of Good Design.

As a designer, whether you are just slapping paint on a stretch of canvas or putting mechanical pieces together or presenting a life-changing application, you cannot consider your design as having achieved its goal without focusing on the final user of your product. Your product design is nothing without first considering your user’s needs, ultimately, the user’s satisfaction determines if your design is good or not.

According to Dieter Rams, Your design is considered “good” if:

It is innovative — your product should possess that element of creativity. It should tell the user that some level of thinking went into the design.

It makes the product useful — a good design should also consider the product’s usability.

Has aesthetics — In most cases, beauty transcends culture, a good design typically appears attractive.

It makes a product understandable — A good design should not leave the user confused as to the original purpose of the product, no matter how vague.

It is unobtrusive — According to Dieter Rams, a product is designed to fulfill a purpose and not announce itself.

It is honest.

It is long-lasting.

It is thorough.

It is environmentally friendly.

It is as little design as possible — simply put, less is more.

It may sound far-fetched to be able to conform every piece of design to these ten tenets every time, but it can be considered good practice to check as many boxes as possible when rating your product.

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