Startups, this is how design works
Companies like Apple are making design impossible for startups to ignore. Startups like Github, Airbnb, Square, and Fitbit have design at the core of their business, and they're doing phenomenal work. But what is 'design' actually? Is it a logo? A Wordpress theme? An innovative UI?
It's so much more than that. It's a state of mind. It's an approach to a problem. It's how you're going to kick your competitor's ass. This handy guide will help you understand design and provide resources to help you find awesome design talent.
De•sign [dǝzajn] is a method of problem solving.
The simplest definition. Design is so many things, executed in many different ways, but the function is always the same. Whether it's blueprints, a clever UI, a brochure, or a chair – design can help solve a visual or physical problem.¹
So what is "good design"?
This definition is not so simple. The best designs are notorious for seeming not designed at all – or 'undesigned'.
It's easier if we break things down a bit. If you know what to look for, it's easier to identify good design when you see it, or perhaps when you can't see it at all.
Dieter Rams' Ten Principles of "Good Design"
(Wow, how convenient is that?)
Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and functionalist industrial design.
According to Vitsœ: Back in the early 1980s, aware that his design was a significant contributor to the world, he asked himself an important question: "Is my design good design?"
Since good design can't be measured in a finite way, he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the 'Ten commandments'.) Here they are.²
Good design is...
Braun vs Apple
"We designers, we don't work in a vacuum. We need business people. We are not the fine artists we are often confused with. Today you find few companies that take design seriously, as I see it." — Dieter Rams
Good design can't be achieved with glossy buttons or masterful wireframes alone. It's a merger of all these principles into something that is meaningful and deliberate.
Just like a great business plan is nothing without expert execution, a great Photoshop mockup is nothing, for example, without careful consideration to UI or the user's needs.
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Objectified
A documentary film that provides a look at the creativity behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. Watch the complete film here.
Various Braun and Vitsœ Products
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Reflect on Your Product
Take a look at your current product – is design contributing in an innovative way? Does it make the product useful, understandable, and aesthetic? Is it long-lasting, or will it look outdated or break in a few years?
These are really hard questions to answer. Designers enable you to work within these constraints to create a product customers will fall in love with. Love is a really strong emotion.
Dieter Rams and his contemporariesstarted a movement in 20th Century towards simple and beautiful products. Design was a strongly valued aspect of business, even 60 years ago. It totally has a place in business today – it's a proven method.
There are different kinds of design.
Graphic Design
This is a term that describes an array of different kinds of designers. Think of it like the term 'entrepreneur'. It describes a wide variety of businesspeople - from founders to VCs to "Chief Ninjas" - but isn't all-inclusive. Graphic designers work with graphical images, whether they be illustrations, typography, or images, and on a variety of media including print and web. Graphic design is typically rendered in 2D – printed on a physical surface or displayed on a screen.
↳ Print Design
A type of graphic designer that works exclusively with print media. Before the widespread adoption of computers, software, and the web, virtually all graphic designers worked on print media such as posters, magazines, billboards, and books. Print designers are typically masters of typography, illustration, and traditional printing processes like the Linotype machine or the letterpress machine, a 500-year-old printing method that has regained popularity in recent years for its handmade and traditional feel.
Interaction Design
Interaction designers, on the other hand, focus on digital products and interactive software design. Some examples include web apps like Facebook and Pinterest, mobile apps like Tweetbot, and operating systems like OS X. While graphic design is meant to be observed, interaction design helps humans experience or manipulate software or interface with screen-based hardware in order to achieve specific goals – checking email, withdrawing money from an ATM, or "Liking" a webpage (such as this one!)
"Interaction design is heavily focused on satisfying the needs and desires of the people who will use the product." ³
Framework by Bill Verplank
©2001 Bill Verplank
Clean D7 Interface © 2008-2012 Robot, LLC
↳ User Interface Design
User Interface (UI) design is the design of software or websites with the focus on the user's experience and interaction. The goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible. Good user interface design puts emphasis on goals and completing tasks, and good UI design never draws more attention to itself than enforcing user goals.
"The design process must balance technical functionality and visual elements to create a system that is not only operational but also usable and adaptable to changing user needs." ⁷
↳ User Experience Design
User Experience (UX) design "incorporates aspects of psychology, anthropology, sociology, computer science, graphic design, industrial design and cognitive science. Depending on the purpose of the product, UX may also involve content design disciplines such as communication design, instructional design, or game design." ⁸
The goal of UX design is to create a seamless, simple, and useful interaction between a user and a product, whether it be hardware or software. As with UI design, user experience design focuses on creating interactions designed to meet or assist a user's goals and needs.
Panton Stacking Chair ©1967 Verner Panton
Industrial Design
Industrial designers create physical products designated for mass-consumption by millions of people. Motorcycles, iPods, toothbrushes, and nightstands are all designed by industrial designers. These people are masters of physical goods and innovation within the constraints of production lines and machines.
"The objective is to study both function and form, and the connection between product, the user, and the environment." ⁹
Data: what does the industry think?
What qualities of design do startups consider most important?
I asked 78 CEOs, marketers, engineers, and designers about their opinions and definitions of design. Before I could come up with anything for this project, I had to check my assumptions at the door and get some legit data. It seems that entrepreneurs / engineers and designers are thinking about the same things.
Business, Marketers, and Engineers
Designers and Creative Directors
Dieter Rams' Principles
How important is product design?
Product design includes both digital and physical products. It represents not only the aesthetic qualities, but what it does, how well a user thinks it's going to do it, and how easily & quickly they can complete a task.
Think for a moment. How important is product design to you? How important do you think aesthetics and ease-of-use are to your customers?
How deep does design go?
Now we're getting somewhere. Great design is taking root in startup culture, and it seems like many people are open to change. Not only do many entrepreneurs, devs, and engineers see substantial room to improve their own products, they overwhelmingly believe that designers belong on a founding team.
Designer + Founders: the missing link
Startups + designers = ?
For a long time, a pair of co-founders consisted of an executive and an engineer. It worked for Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple, just to name a few. These companies have excellent designers today, because it's a necessity they can't afford to ignore. It seems like design is becoming more and more prevalent in new startups as well – Square, Fitbit, Tapbots, and more are pushing the envelope.
Design is becoming a key differentiator for companies to acquire funding, press coverage, and loyal users.
I think it's time to shake things up a bit.
Let's add designers into the mix.
The Dream Team
The most successful startups have strong collaboration between technical founders and designers from the beginning. When design is treated as a core competency rather than just a visual polish, products tend to resonate more deeply with users.
Communication is Key
The best designer-founder relationships are built on clear communication, mutual respect, and shared understanding of business goals. Regular feedback sessions and involvement of designers in strategic decisions leads to better outcomes.