A design is a blueprint or design for the construction or implementation of something, or even for the experimental implementation of some act or procedure, or even the end result of that design or blueprint in the form of some finished product, or model. The word ‘design’ can also be used as a synonym for ‘implemented’ or ‘pired’. The verb to design normally implies the entire process of coming up with a design or blueprint for the purpose of implementing some action or procedure. So in this context, design also denotes a procedure, and the verb design normally connotes something finished, or completed. For instance, you can say ‘He made a design in accordance with our initial ideas’, whereas ‘We made a model in accordance with his design’ and ‘That model was implemented in accordance with his design’ are synonyms.
When we talk about designing, we usually speak about persons who are engaged in planning and carrying out the task, and we rarely speak of persons who are carrying it out, if it is not a planned activity. Therefore, when we use the term ‘design’ we imply planning and organising the whole process in a particular way. This article intends to define what a design is and how designers make designs.
A designer is someone who creates or designs things, according to their knowledge and understanding, and who can explain their work in terms of how it will fit into a certain environment. Designers often use scientific methods to arrive at their design solutions. In scientific jargon, a designer is described as a’mathematician who carries out the scientific method on a large scale’ [1]. Designers use mathematical language to describe problem solutions, their output, and the way they intend to fit into a certain environment. Designers use a scientific approach so that there is a testability of their results and so that subsequent research can verify that their results are correct.
Designers help us solve problems. How many of the products that you see in stores are designed by designers? Most of them have been designed by marketing teams – they were produced by marketing departments using marketing tools such as advertising, packaging and publicity. Marketing designers help us solve problems. However, not all of the products that we buy were designed by marketing teams – they might have been designed by business owners who needed something better for their product range or who wanted to improve their profits by changing their production procedures.
Designers help make things better. As mentioned above, designers work with business people who want to improve their products or their businesses. The kind of improvement that they help to bring about is sometimes non-consequential, for example making things better for sales or convenience or friendliness or simply making them more beautiful or convenient to use. Designers can help us achieve the goals of our organisations through the means of product development. Many organisations use experienced designers to do this.
User Interface Designers help to improve the usability of a system, its components and how they interact with each other. Usability designers should therefore be the ones who understand what the users need and what kind of technology they need to work with. The interaction design works with designing for usability, making things easier for users to operate and using various techniques to make things more pleasant for them. They help to make things easier for business people too, allowing them to operate their businesses in a more efficient manner and with greater ease of mind. There are a lot of things that these specialists can do for your organisation, ranging from designing your brand identity to interactive user interface design and your website.