We were having dinner last night, and we somehow started talking about construction and roads (lots of precocious teenagers around). Why are roads as they are? Why are roads in one country so very different to another? Why are they curved? What about manhole covers, why are they round? Design baby, design.
And what about trains? Here in London we have the tube - why doesn’t the map look like the road map? Easy answer here - it’s just much easier to use. MUCH easier. And you feel a whole lot cooler…
Designers of all sorts spend hours, days weeks and years in making our lives easier. And the proof of their success is when we don’t even notice. Some of it evolves our years (think knife and fork), some if a direct result of some really hard work (think Ferrari 308 Magnum fans), and some of it by total luck (Hula Hoop crisps anyone?).
But what’s worst is when designers aren’t involved - those doors that don’t open properly, clothes that just don’t fit anyone, and that those internet sites that just don’t work. Bugs you doesn’t it? Well, it bugs me, for sure.
Why Design Matters
Two factors are crucial for the work of any designer. Firstly, the arena in which most design is practised is that of business, where profit is necessary to survive. If designers cannot contribute to the economic viability of a company, there is no reason to employ them. Engineers ensure things work, marketers position goods appropriately, but designers specialise in the detailed interaction between what a company produces and the lives of its users, which is a different matter from the cosmetic function often assigned to it.
The second imperative is that what is designed becomes part of a wider social and economic world. Only if what is designed is affordable, useful, accessible and pleasurable will it sell and give continuing satisfaction. Users ultimately determine what constitutes value and innovation, and a focus on their needs and an emphasis on providing greater and deeper satisfaction to them is the key to sustainable profitability.
