Your favorite thing might be a car, or a park, or a game you play. Whatever it is, if it was made by people, someone designed it. And the design they came up with was better than most other designs you have ever used in your life.
For fun, let’s assume your favorite thing is a Porsche.
Imagine yourself driving one on an open road on a lovely summer day. The car drives so well it feels like a part of you, and you can enjoy the landscape and your favorite music without thinking much about how they work.
Now imagine you traded your Porsche in for one of these.
It’s hard to get inside it. It has ZERO horsepower (you pedal with your feet). It does not have power steering or power windows (or windows of any kind). And it looks old and rusty.
What explains the difference in how these were made?
The answer is design.
The Porsche was designed to be faster, more comfortable and better looking. It wasn’t an accident. They hired hard-working designers who knew how to study people’s needs, prototype ideas, and refine them into the results you see.
The difference between your favorite thing and all the things that annoy, frustrate or disappoint you is who designed it and how they did it. But most of the time we don’t think about design at all.
Often when something is designed well, we don’t even notice it.
Design is a profession, but also a way of thinking about the world that everyone should understand – this website will start you on your way.