What Is Design?

Design is developing creative solutions. Anything and everything we see is a design.

“Design is intelligent made visible”

Alina Wheeler

Everything we witness in the world is full of design. Nature is the best example one can have in terms of exceptional design.

The car that you ride in. The jewelry that you adorn. The magazine that you read. Or the fabric that you are wearing. From furniture to the architecture of our homes, everything is a design. 

Design is as foundational as a mother that gave birth to various other visual streams such as Fashion Design, Web Design, Animation Design, and Interior Designing.

We design to create solutions. These solutions consist of the following characteristics:

• Simple
• Effective
• Efficient
• Error-Free
• Easy to learn and use
• Creative

How Do We Design?

Every design has similar underlining regardless of the type of design that is at play.

But what is this basic underlining that’s common in all types of design? Let us try to understand guidelines that dictate how a design is created:

Define The Problem

Every project that you may undertake starts with a problem that needs a solution. If you are in a company then the clients will define the problem to you. 

You have to discover the gap and create a design to fill the gap as well as provide a solution.

Research

You have to go through a lot of websites, books, surveys that help you gain deep insights to understand the problem.

Research helps you discover the core factors of the problem and help you come up with ideas to tackle the problem in creative ways.

Brainstorming and Mind-Mapping

After you have done the research, you have to look for the keywords to understand the problem and brainstorm the design.

You have to categorize the information from your research to think more about finding the solution to the problem.

Develop Solutions

This is the step where you use all the categorized information to design multiple solutions to the problem. You get to compare and choose the ultimate solution for the problem.

Creating multiple solutions also helps you expand your vision and come across various possibilities instead of settling for one.

Validation 

This is where you are presenting or pitching your idea. You will be provided feedback about your ideas by your clients.

This also helps you learn more about the client’s needs as well as gives you the opportunity to help them understand the basic ideas behind your design.

Improve your design 

This is about polishing the design and recreating it over and over again until you complete the final design.

The final design is also the final product that will take you one more step closer to the production phase.

What Is The Process Of Preparing The Design?

1. Inspiration Board

The inspiration board is a space where you accumulate all the elements, pictures, and things that inspire you. These elements help you build the foundation of the potential design.

2. Client Board

The second step is the client board, where you have to create the entire profile of your client. This helps you to create an appropriate design for the right audience.

This profile includes the study of your client, target audience, age group, gender, occupation, income, needs, wants, likes, and dislikes.

3. Mood Board

Mood boards are creative boards that highlight the theme of your design. It helps you decide the aesthetics of the design that would attract people naturally.

4. Research

This involves primary and secondary research to find inspiration around you with the help of images, videos, surveys, and observation.

5. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is getting started with design ideas with the help you all the information accumulated during research.

6. Concept

This is where you create a prototype conceptual design that is based on the ideas that originated during the brainstorming and mind mapping sessions.

7. Sketches

At this stage, you have the visual representation of your potential design. This is the monumental step where you get to compare various sketches to settle for a final design.

8. Final Design

The final design is your final product that will be pitched to the client that will go into production if approved.

9. Spec Sheet and Cost Sheet

Spec sheets include all the specifications of your design, their purpose, and their functionality. The cost sheet is an estimated cost for each element of your design that leads up to the overall cost.

Design is an elaborate yet exciting process that requires a lot of efforts by the designer. Hence, we tried to break it down into simple steps to help you understand. What is your take on design and its process? Share you thoughts in the comments section!