Every day we encounter many different products and services, each designed to serve a particular purpose. Performance, usability and aesthetics shape our perception of value and our preference for a particular product or service. Most business owners recognise the importance of good design, which can generate leads and increase sales. However, too often we experience poor design, in relation to customer experience, performance or reliability.
Elements of Good Design
We could describe good design as including only those elements required to optimise usability, performance and aesthetics. Poor quality design often includes elements that do not add to usability, performance or aesthetics and can worsen them. Design is frequently described in visual terms, but it involves the entire user experience. Before buying something, people typically compare factors such as price, performance and reliability. However, the success of expensive premium products and services demonstrates the influence of good design on buying decisions.
Good design can have a timeless quality. Rather than come and go, as fashions change, classic designs are typically the best at what they do. They can become desirable status symbols, motivating people to share their experience of using them. This can increase demand among customers for a product or service. Taking an evolutionary approach to planning, design, development, testing and evaluation could ensure that by the time a product or service reaches the market the design cannot be improved upon, which could lead to it becoming a classic.
From things as varied as architecture, furniture, fashion, electrical goods, movies and digital user interfaces, people value good design. If the design is confusing or misleading, they might reject what could otherwise be an excellent product or service. In a highly competitive market people can easily find alternatives and will often tell others about a negative experience. There are examples of technically superior products being outsold and even replaced by others that were better designed in some way, even if only in terms of how well they were marketed to the target audience.
The Design Process
Design involves the organisation of elements with a defined purpose. It can be influenced by factors such as requirements, resources and branding. Visual design elements include; proportion, balance, harmony, scale, contrast and use of space and colour. Ideas inspired by your surroundings, or resulting from brainstorming sessions, could be written down or sketched. Consider who will be using a product or service and under what conditions. Try to remove obstacles to understanding. For example, an unusual website navigation menu could cause confusion and reduce usability. Referencing something familiar could improve usability, such as when computer desktops use icons resembling physical folders and files.
Form following function is a principle that the intended function should guide design decisions, so that nothing detracts from how useful it is. When something is poorly designed, it will often be less fun to use and require more effort, while good design is frequently intuitive to use and less stressful. Aesthetic appeal can enhance design, but mere decoration is often a distraction. There are also practical considerations, such as production, materials, storage and delivery costs. In addition to cost savings, minimising waste of resources also demonstrates concern regarding sustainability, which many would consider to be an element of good design.
Reducing Complexity
The form and function of computers, cars, furniture, packaging materials and digital experiences differ greatly. However, they can share qualities that while not always easy to describe in words can be experienced through the effect they have upon us. A common characteristic found in good design is simplicity, which should not be confused with simplistic. When a product or service cannot be improved by anything being added or removed, it is likely to be more efficient and intuitive than alternatives which contain unnecessary features.
We recognise the experience of good design, but its apparent simplicity can be difficult to achieve. Reducing a product or service to essential elements requires a deep level of understanding, so that nothing required is removed and nothing remains unless needed. Removing unnecessary complexity, bringing order to chaos and reducing barriers to understanding, can enhance user experience. People like to feel in control. They tend to avoid or reject things they find difficult to understand or use, which cause them too much stress or confusion.
Achieving good design, through reduction of complexity, can be applied to anything that a business does. For example, when managing a project taking a minimalist approach could involve clear decision making regarding goals, understanding resource requirements and having a realistic schedule, to ensure tasks are completed in a logical sequence. A minimal viable product (MVP), with only essential features required for user testing, could help a business avoid unnecessary waste of resources and time. An iterative process could enable development of an optimal design, maximising profitability. This approach could be applied to activities as varied as digital marketing, product development, or onboarding and training personnel.