Last year I shared a paper I had originally published in 2002 attempting to define design in response to the discipline’s increasing popularity as a cultural as well as commercial force. It was clear to me in 2002 that design would eventually evolve beyond a discipline and be recognized as the fundamental means by which human intention is brought to reality, serving as the driver of innovation.
To date, no clear definition of design exists beyond the textbook definition posed by Merriam-Webster, and don’t even get me started on Design Thinking. This lack of clarity is understandable given that for the past century design has been the domain of creatives who by their very nature despise linguistic clarity when they can just as easily show us what design is without having to tell us. This, I understand, having graduated from design school without ever being provided with a coherent definition of design. Unfortunately, not all design efforts manifest visually if you consider the design of a health care policy, for instance.
Realizing that the notion of design would ultimately go mainstream, in 2002 (six years after graduating from design school) I set it upon myself to become a student of design for the sake of explaining the process behind it to those outside of the discipline who [like it or not, know it or not] design daily without any formal training — or worse yet, are charged with managing designers or design teams without any knowledge or appreciation of design.
I last defined design as a creative problem solving process. Since then, I have continued to think on the matter. I return to my original definition confident that it was a good start of an unfinished sentence. Today I complete that sentence, offering my definition of design as follows:
Design is a creative problem solving process that brings attention, care and sophistication to the realization of ideas.
Below is an explanation of the nine key words in the above definition:
Creative: We all have unique life experiences. Each of us is capable of drawing upon our unique world view – which translates into our uniquely creative point of view. Creativity is at the heart this life experience. It is a divine tool that can change the world and is available to us all.
Problem: Problems, obstacles and challenges confront us all, and we have the opportunity to draw upon our uniqueness and creativity to overcome them all – turning adversity into opportunity. For every problem, obstacle and challenge, there are as many possible solutions as there are unique points of view.
Solving: We apply our creativity – in the form of conceptual ideas – to resolve the problems, obstacles and challenges at hand.
Process: Upon testing our concepts, we either decide that they successfully solve our problems, obstacles and challenges – thereby concluding the process; or decide that they do not – thereby repeating the process until we arrive at a solution. This process is known as iteration — design is an iterative process.
Attention: To solve a problem, we must first truly understand it, and this requires our commitment to get at the root of the problem by giving it our undivided attention. Haphazard solutions are the result of lackluster attention and a lack of dedication to understanding the true nature of the problem at hand.
Care: We commit great care to the pursuits we are most passionate about. Care shows through in our attention to the little details others might take for granted. Care on behalf of a designer translates directly into the experience afforded by the design.
Sophistication: Leaving a positive imprint on the memory of those exposed to a design demands a level of sophistication far beyond the mundane. There are a number of ways to convey sophistication — from the delivery of refined simplicity to the flair of cutting edge. Sophistication is what allows us to set our work apart from others while tugging at the heartstrings of our audience.
Realization: Our creative and strategic vision leads us ultimately to a point at which our goal is realized as a result of the design process. This almost magical act of making is the alchemy afforded by the design process.
Ideas: If design is the driver of innovation, ideas are the fuel of design. Every step of the design process requires ideas — sometimes fresh and other times tried and true. While execution is certainly an aspect of design, ideas are what make design an art — a manifestation of human intention.
I will continue to monitor my craft and — who knows — I might revisit this definition in another decade. Such is the iterative nature of design and I am its humble servant.
For Spanish bank BBVA, IDEO examined the interaction experience of ATM’s, which has lagged dramatically behind the actual technology powering these machines. From simple yet impactful tweaks like 90-degree booth rotation for better privacy to cutting-edge customization software, the prototype — which took two years of development — offers a seamless, highly visual bridge between physical and virtual.
Great example of the design innovation process informed by ethnography.
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers — and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.
People don’t buy what you do — they buy why you do it.
Tom Wujec from Autodesk presents some surprisingly deep research into the “marshmallow problem” — a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?
Designers Look for Trouble What’s Your Problem?
Designers are an odd bunch. No other discipline (professional or otherwise) spends so much time looking for what’s wrong with everything in the world. If it wasn’t for the designer instinct to turn problems into opportunities for positive change, designers the world over would surely suffer from depression and perish as a result.
To be a designer is to be critical — to find fault for the purpose of improving a product, service, experience, environment or paradigm. The challenge for designers is to temper their critical (negative) nature with an imaginative, hopeful and creative (positive) nature. Temperament is not an easy skill to master, but one that can bring balance to the personal as well as professional life of a designer.
Bar Soap vs. Liquid Soap A case of where to drain the goop.
Raymond, I completely agree with your point regarding the non-aesthetic aspects of design. I’ve always wondered whether the whole “design” of liquid soap is a problem. Bar soap has a simple paper wrapper, and you are not shipping all that water. The “design” of a bar of soap seems, on the surface at least, to be such an environmentally elegant idea (soap ingredients aside. Any thoughts on this?
Indeed, in our bathroom, we use liquid soap at the sink and bar soap in the shower. The obvious reason for this is that no matter how carefully one goes about handling bar soap near the sink, it is sure to leave an unsightly puddle of goop when returned to its proper place (near the sink, on the counter or in a traditional bar soap holder). In the shower, the goop is less of an issue as it conveniently runs down the tile and into the drain, but the sink environment has not been designed to address this problem.
Jude’s comment sent me digging for innovative soap bar holders — 99.99% of what I found did not address the problem as I described it, but one (and I really only found this one) seemed to truly understand the problem in a way that a good designer would need to in order to set out to properly resolve it.
A nice blog post at Tree Hugger features the work of designer Marcos Shayo of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here is a direct link to the product’s home page. It looks like Marcos may need some business partners to handle his overseas sales. ;)
So, in answer to Jude’s question, I would most definitely use (sustainable) paper wrapped bar soap over liquid soap from (unsustainable) plastic bottles if I had an elegant way to manage and/or dispose of the goop. :)
Designing for Affordability
This is a great case study of how one firm approaches projects in a practical, bottom line driven manner.
The twist? We’re not talking about shareholder bottom line as a priority — we’re talking about the customer’s bottom line.
This is where the highest potential of design meets the highest potential of business: Build sustainable, valued brands by improving the daily lives of people in a manner that is affordable to the customer, the firm, society & ecology.
Design Oriented firms understand that design as a creative problem solving process can be utilized to conceive of and produce better, more affordable products, services & experiences which result in a positive net effect on the firm’s bottom line.
This video case-study from the Batten Institute at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business presents the approach to innovation followed by Nottingham-Spirk, an innovation and design consultancy based in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm specializes in improving everyday products and then re-designing them to sell at prices lower than elsewhere in the market. Following the design path of one product, this video walks students through the firm’s seamless process, illustrating how Nottingham-Spirk manages to maximize quality and consumer appeal, yet still keeping costs down. Sean Carr of the Batten Institute and Darden professor Kamalini Ramdas worked with the Darden Media video production team to develop this video. The Batten Institute: Advancing Knowledge About Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
A Discussion Around Design.
A really good conversation re: design and its role and impact on business, politics and other areas. (British accent: Not a black polo shirt in sight!). While the discussion is UK-centric, it is nevertheless interesting and relevant beyond geographic boundaries.
Claire Fox of the Institute of Ideas examines several issues regarding design in Britain, including business, social engineering, green issues and innovation. Guests are: IT Consultant Angus Kennedy, Design Consultant Martyn Perks, Nico Macdonald, Consultant and Author, Spy and Vicky Richardson, Editor of Blueprint magazine.
Don Norman on the Design of Future Things.
Design = Operations
Don Norman is a Professor at Northwestern University, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, and former Vice President of Apple Computer. He serves on many advisory boards, including Encyclopedia Britannica and the Industrial design department of KAIST, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. He has honorary degrees from the University of Padova (Italy) and the Technical University Delft (the Netherlands) and is the author of “The Design of Everyday Things” and “Emotional Design.” His newest book, “The Design of Future Things,” discusses the role that automation plays in our everyday lives. He lives at jnd.org.
This special guest lecture was made possible by the great leadership of the IDSAB (the ID Student Activities Board).
In the above clip, Alan Smith, the designer (firm: The Movement) behind Business Model Generation walks us through several cover design concepts and directions for the management book.
Marketing Faculty and Consultant, drawing on insights at the intersection of design, technology, commerce and culture..
