Think fast: What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the word “design”?
I'm sure some images come to mind, such as:
the latest-generation smartphone,
vintage decorative art,
or even a friend's ultra-modern kitchen.
Our intuition tells us that design must be beautiful, modern, and pure—yet we have a hard time coming up with a clear and precise definition.
But why is “design” so difficult to define?
Well, for two main reasons:
In recent years, the term has become very popular.
It’s a word that has been used to mean many different things, which ends up reinforcing certain preconceived notions.
But don't worry: by the end of this course, you’ll be an expert on the topic! So let's start by debunking three common myths about design.
Myth # 1: Designers are Always Artists
While design often includes an aesthetic element, unlike art, its primary purpose is to be useful, easy to understand, and pleasant to use .
Picture a citrus juicer: wouldn’t you want it to be comfortable to hold and easy to operate above anything else? If it has a color or a shape that you like, that's a bonus, but that doesn’t add anything to its main function: squeezing citrus fruit.
Or think about it this way:
Artists create, entirely from their own inspiration, works that trigger emotions and raise questions.
Designers design solutions that deliver ease-of-use or improvements to everyday problems and objects.
For example, let’s consider an object we interact with every day: a chair.
An artist could choose to create a chair that’s difficult to sit on, with the goal of forcing us, the viewers, to confront the sedentary lifestyle our office jobs impose upon us.
A designer, however, would design a chair that’s, above all, ergonomic, to solve the problem of back pain due to prolonged sitting.
What are designers’ main goals?
Creating things that:
are adapted to a specific need or needs.
can be used and understood by a large number of people.
are as efficient, comfortable, simple, and in many cases, safe as possible.
Myth #2: Design Only Applies to Objects
One of the most stubborn myths is that design only applies to objects, especially furniture: a sofa, a table, an armchair, etc.
That is only scratching the surface! While design does indeed apply to objects, it can go so much further.
Don't feel bad if you held many of these beliefs about design; it's completely natural to believe that design has to do with the visual world and, in particular, to physical objects, since historically this was the case:
The first designers produced everyday objects intended for mass consumption at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, an era marked by mechanized, rationalized production: cars, furniture, household appliances, etc. Then, following a series of subsequent cultural movements (modernism, pop art, Bauhaus, etc.), the digital revolution was upon us!
With the advent of the internet, social media, and new technologies seemingly in the blink of an eye, modern society feels like it’s moving at breakneck speed. And as a result, design has gradually become dematerialized, expanding to a diverse range of fields, especially all that is digital.
Myth #3: Design Is Only for Designers
Well, yes and no.
Design is, obviously, the result of a designer's work. But if we look closely at the different steps of this process, we can clearly see that it’s a method that we can all use on a daily basis.
So just what is a designer, then?
It's someone who:
identifies a problem,
thinks of possible solutions,
designs a prototype that aims to address the problem,
tests it under real-world conditions,
identifies its flaws,
and then adjusts and improves the prototype.
We all solve problems on a daily basis, so we can all apply a design approach to our projects!
Let’s Recap!
Designers are ergonomists: people whose main objective is to address a need or improve something that poses a problem.
Their primary purpose is to create something practical and useful. It can be aesthetically pleasing or modern in appearance, but that’s not a requirement.
Design is intrinsically linked to the experience it provides: if it makes something easy and pleasant to use, the experience will be positive. That is why design is not only about physical objects—it can be applied to anything that requires creation.
Though "designer" is an existing profession, design thinking is not exclusive to designers! Their way of thinking and working is a model that we can all learn from.
So now you have a general idea of what design is. In the next chapter, we will talk about how to better identify and analyze design as it shows up in our everyday lives. As you’ll soon come to find out, it’s everywhere!
