What Is Design and Why Is It Important?
A design is a blueprint or specification of an existing object or system, or even for the development of such an object or system, or the end result of this blueprint or specification in the actual form of a product, machine or service. The word ‘design’ has other meanings too, and it generally refers to the artistic quality of a structure or the production of artistic output. In technical terms, ‘designing’ refers to the systematic arrangement of elements in a manufactured object so that their connection and effectiveness are clearly visible at a view distance. So ‘designed’ is also used in a technical sense to mean ‘existing’. A ‘custom’ design refers to a personal or unique design, which has been tailored or made to fit a particular need or desire of the user.
Designers work with a variety of principles in designing things. Principles like aesthetics, function, human psychology, usability, information technology, and many others determine how designers go about their work. Many designers have a common ground of interest, experience and background in one or more of these fields, but each designer also brings his own special style, values and experiences to his work. The discipline of biology, for example, owes much to psychology, but the ideas of aesthetics and information technology are the designers’ fields of concentration.
There are many areas of designing, but a few important ones are graphic design, interaction design, web design and user experience design. Graphic design involves coming up with images and other designs to make the user experience better. It includes creative thinking, arranging the data, and selecting the most appropriate tools. Interaction design involves arranging people’s thoughts and actions in an environment. It is very different from graphic design as it involves the creation of a virtual object by manipulating its physical properties, rather than just presenting data in a visual form. Web design involves organizing the content of a website on a computer so that it is easily found by the users.
User experience design works within the boundaries of the designers’ fields of concentration. It involves thinking about how a user will think or feel about various things. A good user interface design company will not only think about the visual appeal of the application, but also about how it will help the user operate the application. Designers who are skilled in creating user interfaces should be able to analyze the needs of the target market and work out a solution to make things easier for them. Another thing that a good user interface design company will focus on is making things convenient for the customers.
Designers can further categorize their field into different sub-disciplines. A few designers might concentrate on creating aesthetically appealing designs, while other designers will specialize in making things user-friendly. Then there are those who will focus on making things more functional. This type of designer would then specialize in making things more practical. Still another sub-discipline of UI designers focuses on making things more interactive.
A good design does not mean that it looks good. It means that the way a certain application work is such that the user will have to put in a little effort to understand how to use it and achieve the desired results. The designers of web solutions must take care to ensure that the application’s usability is made easy.