Design is everything. Here’s why I love it and why you should too.
Think back to the last item you bought. It could’ve been a shirt, headphones, kitchen utensils, an app — You probably picked it out because of the way it looked, the way it felt, or the way it worked. In short, you picked it out because of its design.
It’s easy to neglect design in the product development process, but you shouldn’t. Here’s why.
1. Design is a powerful business tool
“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.” — Paul Rand
I am a firm believer that design can make or break the success of a product because it serves as an ambassador for the product’s brand. As humans, we’re naturally inclined to judge appearance and we quickly form a conclusion based on the first thing we see. For products or services, that’s typically the design of how it looks.
For a product to grow and develop a loyal customer base that’s excited to spread the word about said product, its brand needs to be visually compelling and effectively relatable to the consumer. The better designed it is, the more likely the brand will be perceived as credible and high quality and the more likely customers are to engage and identify with it. More loyal customers mean more word-of-mouth marketing and more brand-affiliated product use.
2. It makes everyone’s lives happier and easier
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible” — Don Norman
Design answers human needs and desires before they’re even realized. Whether it’s designing the screen to automatically increase its brightness upon the display of a barcode or it’s designing a search bar at the bottom of the mobile screen for easy reach, design works to make life easier. Thoughtful touches such as these often go unnoticed, but that’s an indicator of good, intuitive design that understands who its users are. I would say that better design results in happier customers, but it’s more like better design results in less unhappy, disgruntled customers.
On the flip side, what does hold is the better the design, the happier the product team. When a brand or product is designed well from a visual perspective, the design serves as a point of pride, especially during pitch meetings, showcases, and presentations. As an ambassador of your brand, you want to feel proud and confident to share your brand and the product you’ve developed with others. Just as self-confidence can be derived from how you look and dress, confidence during a presentation can be derived from how proud you are of your brand, product, and presentation deck. When all three look visually stunning, you’ll feel even more proud, confident, and excited to share it with the world.
3. It means a lot to people
“The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” — Steve Jobs
Design can bring out the best emotions of human nature. It can make them stand in awe, sit at ease, smile in surprise, or revel in childish delight. But more notably, on a deeper level, it can bring in meaning into people’s lives.
People are drawn to being a part of things they feel are bigger than themselves. They look for deep connections and meaningful experiences with the products and services they buy and interact with, and they draw this meaning from how that product or service is designed to look, feel, and work.
As designers, we are responsible for instilling meaning into the products or services we design. Though that may sound like a daunting task to achieve, it’s what makes the whole discipline of design so fulfilling. We deliver a sense of accomplishment, community, wonder, harmony, enlightenment, oneness, and other core meanings that people seek in life simply through the experiences we create within the product, service, or brand.
This is the hidden beauty of design that not everyone sees. The design discipline may be revered chiefly based on its looks and veneer, but what I find most beatific about it is its capability to facilitate those meaningful human experiences and feelings that all of us look for in life.
As a designer, knowing that I’m able to add meaning to people’s lives through design lends a sense of purpose in what I do. The powerful ability for design to enable people to live their best lives in any way, shape, or form is the ultimate reason why I love design as much as I do– and why I think you should too.
As a Design Lead at Texas Convergent, I’m excited to help fellow students develop their brand identities through powerful design and build products they’re proud to share. I hope to further ensure the success of their projects by offering insight into ways they can be more visually compelling, interactively functional, and most importantly, meaningful for the user.
I’m here to help in any way I can, so please do reach out! :)
