Design encompasses two fundamental principles: First, as Richard Buchanan (1992) articulates, it is 'the conception and planning of the artificial' - a deliberate process of creating something new. Second, as John Dewey explains in his seminal work 'Experience and Nature,' design serves as a bridge between disciplines, integrating diverse knowledge to solve complex problems and drive innovation. Together, these concepts frame design as both a creative and systematic endeavor that shapes our material and experiential world.
My Take on Design
As someone deeply passionate about design, I believe it is one of the three core elements of human intelligence:
- Science: The exploration of similarities between things
- Art: The exploration of differences between things
- Design: The art of synthesizing fragmentary parts into meaningful wholes
I included this because I believe that choice is central to human development, and it is through development that we gain the ability to make choices. Design serves as a powerful tool that enhances both choice and holistic thinking. Designers actively shape the future rather than merely predicting it; they learn to apply what is known, realize what is unknown, and uncover what should be known. In essence, design is the art of transforming unusable parts into a cohesive and functional whole.
About Design Thinking
Design thinking involves collaborating with stakeholders from diverse perspectives to envision and realize a shared future through iterative refinement. This process encompasses three key stages:
Understanding the Environment:
- Identify the system we are operating within and its broader context.
- Determine who the stakeholders are, what variables they control or influence, and their needs and purposes.
Abstracting System Interaction Patterns:
- Analyze the narrative landscape of the context.
- Identify factors that reinforce or weaken each other and those that are interdependent or conflicting.
Creating Symbolic Models for Stakeholder Communication:
- Explore feasible approaches.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of these methods.
- Determine the most viable solution within current constraints.
Thus, design thinking is an iterative process that balances holistic and localized thinking. This understanding clarifies both IDEO's sweet spot and the double diamond model.
Uncertainty in Design
Design thinking and decision-making are inherently non-linear and fraught with uncertainty. Designers grapple with "social system problems" that are complex and difficult to structure. In these scenarios, information is often chaotic, stakeholders may have conflicting values, and solutions are not simply right or wrong, but rather better or worse. Each problem can be interpreted in multiple ways, heavily influenced by the designer's worldview and philosophy of life, leading to unpredictable and sometimes challenging outcomes.
Elements of Good Design
To define and monitor success in relation to your goals, consider setting specific targets across various performance and satisfaction metrics:
By focusing on these elements, designers can better navigate the complexities of design challenges.
AI's impact: will LUI replace GUI？
Regarding Language User Interface (LUI), designers need not overly mystify it, at least at the current stage. Machines fundamentally operate on binary structured data, which is why humans initially used programming languages to communicate with them in the early stages of software development. During the UX/UI phase, programming languages transformed into graphical interfaces, becoming a more user-friendly form of communication for humans. The original purpose of UI is to provide a convenient form of human-machine interaction. The closer this form is to natural human interaction and communication—requiring less thinking and learning—the lower the barrier to entry, and the more popular it becomes. While natural language can make communication more extensive and unrestricted, one must ask: in scenarios with clear intentions, is natural language truly more efficient than graphical interfaces? There is no inherent superiority between GUI and LUI, and GUI won't necessarily be completely replaced by LUI. Rather than focusing solely on LUI, it might be more worthwhile to invest effort in researching UI forms for the 3D world. After all, human spatial cognition is still limited to three dimensions.
Conclusion
Design is the art of weaving disparate elements into cohesive, meaningful wholes, encompassing all intentional human endeavors. However, relying solely on a design-centric perspective can narrow one's view, like wearing blinders that obscure the rich tapestry of considerations such as product-market fit and the complex pathways of technical scalability. The best incentive for a designer to grow exceptionally is the drive to improve things when reality falls short. Great designers remain humble yet alert, continuously learning across disciplines to build better systems through coordination, innovation, and connection.
