In an industry filled with opinions, the idea of good design can seem like an empty promise.
Yet good design is everywhere, and that is because most of the time, you don’t notice it at all. Good design gets out of the way. It may well be pretty, but this is far from the core of what makes it good.
It is always difficult to explain how you arrived upon a good design. Much like explaining to someone how you actually managed to build that IKEA cabinet you bought last weekend. “It just worked, ok?”
Good design is empathetic. Good design is long-lasting. Good design is just the right amount of design. Not too little, nor too much. Good design offers credibility. Good design is about emotion. Good design solves a problem.
“All art is immoral…. For emotion for the sake of emotion is the aim of art, and emotion for the sake of action is the aim of life, and of that practical organization of life that we call society.” ―Oscar Wilde”
Good design is emotion for the sake of communication. But good design is not about looking pretty. In fact, depending on the emotion you are trying to elicit, good design may be ugly, or it may simply just ‘be’. Like the words on a traffic sign or the washing instructions on a piece of clothing, good design is merely the facilitator between the thing you want or need and the necessary action to get there. Good design makes this process easy, and if it’s really good, actually enjoyable.
Many times, clients to come to us with a problem they think they need to solve. Much of the work we do is not in solving that problem, but identifying if it is the right problem at all.
Good design is effective communication. Not just in the solution, but in uncovering the problem. That’s because good design is a dialogue. It is an environment where everyone on the project is a team. A team who works on behalf of those they are trying to serve. A good design team is their advocate, as well as their assistant.
Good design is getting to the heart of the problem you are trying to solve, and determining if it’s one that is worthwhile.
