Why Learn Design...Even if you're not an Designer

As a humans familiarity is king. We are more likely to stick to what we know than to venture into new territory. Familiarity creates safety and comfort. Which are both good. But they’re not always right.

Breaking tradition and what’s been done before, especially if it’s working, is not a reason for change. As the adage goes

The only constant is change.

If change is inevitable then it’s a requirement to know the best process to facilitate change. This is why it’s important to learn design.

Design is not a process to create the “look” or the “feel”. But rather a process to get to the heart of the problem. From this problem comes a “look” or a “feel” that is part of the solution.

The reason we should all learn design is because of the assumption that adults, experts, and professionals know the answers. Assumed answers tend to mean assumed problems. When we assume we know the problem chances it’s easy to get suck in feedback loop of assumed solutions. Never seeing the change we wanted to see in the first place.

One of my favorite examples of this is 30x40 Design Workshop’s video on interior design. Where he talks about the importance of having a design concept (identifying the problem).

Developing a concept is away to create constraints on a project. These constraints turn into rules around how to make decision or why a decision is made. Being able to rely on a foundation of principles provides a clarity when the process get muddy. Working on any complex problem it’s only a matter of time before things get muddy.