What Is Design? From Concept to Creation

Defining design

The term “design” typically describes, among other things:

The process of the creative method of design: the organisation of that activity The outcomes of the process and effort, the design We thus need to be very clear about what a design is. After looking at a few sources, I discovered that Wikipedia is quite helpful and consistent with my personal experience: A blueprint or specification for creating a system, item, or activity or the execution of a process.

A design is a strategy for creating anything. That would be simple if there weren’t so many things that are exactly that yet aren’t classified as designs. as in recipes. It’s unnecessary to go over every exception, Most people would probably agree that these are not designs.

However, certain aspects of design overlap in perplexing ways, particularly in the fields of art and engineering.

Art is not design.

Oh my, I didn’t want to describe art in this post. But I have a useful definition. Art is a production whose primary goal is to elicit a feeling. You see, in doing so, I can neatly distinguish between a few things that are occasionally mistaken with art: Artists occasionally provide entertainment to make a living while honing their craft. Kitsch, imitating art but created only for decoration or as a status symbol

Decoration is applied to make something less unsightly or dull or to send a cultural message. Often, decoration is included in a design.

When I was a freelance designer for a large company, a mid-level manager once visited our team. He said, “Hello, how are my artists doing!?” while grinning broadly. Painful. He wasn’t simply clueless. And to make matters worse, he had no notion why art was created.

Why do individuals like him seem to be so perplexed? I will suggest that it’s because designers and artists share a lot of equipment and competencies. Designers also use the same pencils, paper, and markers as painters. Before employing a large, expensive piece of marble or injection-molded steel, it is usual practice in art and design to create sketches and ever-more-detailed drawings.

So why is design covered in art education?

Designers and artists share ideas and inspiration. The same trends and movements influence graphic design and graphic arts. Design and art have a shared past. Making remarks by creating things that resemble practical items is an entire art form. This type of design is taught in art schools, and my opinion, it is not designed at all. The entire ornamental design heritage, which has deep artistic origins, is another. Back when an engineer and some artist built the steam engine was permitted to paint over it to make it seem nice. Perhaps this is why many still believe design exists just for aesthetic purposes. But for more than a century, we have known. believe excellent design results from the integration of form and function

Design is more than just aesthetics or making things seem great. It may be a matter of life or death. Consider the controls of an airplane: “Human error” is most often the result of the crew failing to handle signals as the designers intended when a plane crashes. Consider vehicles, play areas, and toys. If not for bogus news circulating on user-friendly social networks, would the Rohingya genocide have occurred on this scale?

Because of this, I think it’s almost illegal to educate individuals on how to express themselves professionally while referring to them as designers. Just so that company owners only looking to get consumers to utilise their products may hire them. That conclusion is Mike Monteiro’s fault.

Art does not belong in design.

I’d also take into account that design if an artist creates sketches or specifications prior to producing the finished product. The layout of a work of art. However, that does not imply that all art production is design, and it does not imply that all design is art.

Engineering is not design.

Making technological devices or systems perform a specific function is the goal of engineering. Creating items that meet standards is the goal of product development. It takes a long time to do engineering. Usually more than just design. Whether they are servers or injection molding presses, production equipment costs money, as do the materials they use and produce. Therefore, having a plan—a design—before beginning engineering helps you save time and money.

But let’s face it, some engineers are also capable of doing some design work. After all, what does the engineer do, taking over from the designer, if the design is about establishing the plan to make something?

Replicating goods

Companies who don’t have the original designs for their items occasionally copy them. I would contend that engineering, not design, is what is involved when plans are made to create replicas. Such an operation’s managers aren’t trying to come up with a fresh approach to an issue. They don’t seek to enhance the offering or address a persistent user issue (other than making it cheaper perhaps). They desire automated reproductions of the genuine thing. Engineering is that.

Management of products is not design.

A typical team in my field of work includes:

Product managers, designers, and engineers persons in business

Making plans for developing new products is a crucial component of product management. And if product management and design are essentially the same things, if a design is a strategy to create a product, then yes.A product’s size, look, and behavior, once it is in the user’s hands, are the very minimum of a design. It may or may not have a development process plan. PM can help in that situation. Product managers create processes and strategies for the future. Organizational management applies to products.

The phrase “product management” confuses me a little. It signifies that the PM is focused on products. However, neither engineering nor design are tasks that product management does. It serves as a facilitation for the product team. A better word would be product development management. However, product management covers the whole lifespan of a product, from conception through sales, marketing, and recycling. Anyway, the business role of product management is to lower development expenses by increasing team productivity. Additionally, you wouldn’t mistake a businessperson for a designer.

Then, What is design

After clearing up anything that isn’t designed, I’d like to go on to a more detailed and helpful design definition. The segment on engineering came to a close with a statement stating that duplicating a product is not design. If so, design would then be the process of establishing a plan to produce something new. That something can find a brand-new solution to an issue that hasn’t been addressed previously. The engineering chapter also discussed how engineering involves setting up machinery to construct things. This implies that engineering is involved if you create anything to assist machines. Engineering also includes creating a component for a production machine.

A new service’s designers ensure it makes sense to the target audience. Items provide useful purposes. That using them is enjoyable. And that people want them. User-centered design and user-centric design are abbreviations for design. That brings me to the definition that follows:

A design is an idea for creating something fresh for people that they find useful.

Conclusion

to produce, fashion, carry out, or build following a plan: devise, concoct, create an inventory tracking system. to imagine and prepare beforehand.

Also Read: How Artificial Intelligence Impacts the Job Market

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