Boundaries of design

There are three basic steps to any problem, even when your challenge is ultimately creative and not simply functional. While much of the focus of design is put on the creative step, much of the value of any design rests in how well one defines the problem or challenge in the beginning. The clearer that one understands the scope and details of the situation, the sharper one's design solution will be.

While design is an open-ended process, it needs to start with boundaries. Design is trying to communicate the clearest message, convey the most feeling, and create the best experience within the boundaries of the project. Without boundaries, any design project loses its foothold and, more importantly, its contextual meaning. Design works in a context and one must know the context in which one is designing.

Why Do I Design?

AIGA put out a booklet asking "why do you design?" Their answer is "Because you like to solve problems." This is inherently true, though I would change it to "solve puzzles." When I think about design challenges, the task is always about finding ways to bring clarity to multi-leveled, complex, situations or ideas. It is about finding clarity when two or more disparate notions come together. It is about finding the design solution that accomodates all the different parts of the ideas you are working with and creates a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Design is not about merely shuffling elements into attractive packages or displays (although it can be); design is about incrementally creating something new, creating a new way of thinking about elements in relation to each other, creating a new way of understanding a familiar concept or activity. Design is a move forward into the unknown, using familiar structures to invite the viewer in and then twisting the structures in a new way. It is about finding unique ways to join puzzle pieces.

I design because I like to solve puzzles... and create new ones.