Timeless Principles of Design: The Enduring Wisdom That Forges the Path Ahead.
This article reflects my musings about some of the simple things I learned in Design school and their relevance in today’s marketplace. My musings are triggered by the following observations:
- Design schools are increasingly catering to the demands of the digital marketplace.
- The market need for building fast and shipping fast is leading design programs to focus more on training students in the craft of digital design, compared to the old days when designers saw ourselves as facilitators of critical conversations about the potential impact of design on people, communities, society and ecosystems.
- Anyone who can program software code, or develop on-screen interfaces, is today recognized as a designer. The idea of UX Design itself is primarily understood as ease of use and ease of navigation in human-computer interaction.
- I see a ray of hope in the emergence of the field of service design where there is greater attention being paid to human needs in fields such as education, healthcare, customer service, and delivery of public services.
Designers Have an Obligation: The first thing I learned in design school is that designers have an obligation to society to ensure mindfulness as institutions develop new types of technologies, processes and Information delivery systems. One thing I have held sacrosanct in my practice of design is: how do I help my clients bring to life design ideas that will help enrich the meaning and experience of being human? One way to do it is to engage them in conversations about what it means to serve humanity and how their decisions might affect people.
Another key aspect of design I learned in design school was the joy of working with hands. Human craftsmanship, be it traditional crafts, or baked goods, or the ways in which we teach our children to make things with basic materials like paper and cardboard, create in us a profound sense of dignity. It’s a precious feeling of engaging one’s imagination in creating something real that brings delight. Today we are getting addicted to digital experiences. We design digital products using a click of a mouse or touch of a finger on a screen. The joy of using our whole hand in shaping something using one’s sensory faculties is unmatched by any digital creativity. The field of Design has taught me that a true sense of accomplishment comes to me when I am able to use both my intellect and body in shaping a new idea.
Design is also about caring. I learned in design school that to be a good designer I must step out in the real world, spend time with people, observe them, understand them, be curious about what matters to them and that way my ideas will grow from a place of caring. I cannot learn to care by learning about people from a distance. A designer who is unable to care for people who he/she is asked to design for will inadvertently become a pawn in the hands of manipulators of consumer behavior.
A good designer values humility, austerity, and integrity. During the time when I studied design, we intersected with each other and with the people we studied and designed for with utmost humility. Ego and arrogance did not have a place in the way we were trained to design. Also we did not make our design exuberant or opulent. We learned that a frugal mindset and austere value system will lead us to conceptualizing design that is more elegant and effective. Above all we were taught that integrity of materials we used and message we conveyed was critical. Mindful use of natural qualities of materials in design as opposed to making them look what they are not, ensures natural fit with the environment, Likewise, we must be purposeful, honest and simple in communicating messages through our design. Which means telling people what they need to hear in order to know what they need to know.
My design school instilled in me a revolutionary zeal to transform people’s lives through design. I learned that design is not just an artifact of self-gratification, but a practice of challenging the status quo and revealing possibilities for change and improvement. I also learned that the practice of design helps me make friends because as I engage more in design projects with my peers, colleagues, clients, and employees, we cherish our shared experience of finding and acting on a purpose. Very often, I meet old clients and long-lost colleagues after ten, twenty years, or more who say to me, “The project we did together was one of the highlights of my career.” Or “I have learned more about people and life during our travels together for research than from any of the books I have ever read.”
The purpose of sharing my musings about the simple things I learned in design school is to convey to future generations that the field of design is unique. It gives you a sense of purpose, brings you joy, and helps build lasting relationships. Above all, a designer who keeps questioning their thoughts, feelings, and actions will never feel lost, even when wandering, never feel failure when things don’t work out as planned, and never feel alone when life takes them to unfamiliar places.
