In design, it’s what’s inside that counts
Design is not always what you see on the screen, this is the style of the product. The graphics have often been chosen for the user. This can often be seen as a mask that has been placed on top of the application being built. A good product or application will change over time and follow current trends. So each year the product may improve and also may have a different look and feel as to its competitions of the current year. The first rule of design is about making something work. A great product that works, is a product that works both inside and out together.
This can be seen in the following context: the style of the product can be seen as the look and feel of the application or website. This will need to be both engaging and intuitive to the user. The inside design could be seen as the wheels and cogs of the project that is formerly known as a functional design or specification.
With both working together hand in hand, you get a product that works well and an application that customers and users can interact with relatively easily. Women often say that beautiful men are seen to be successful.
This is because beauty is found from within. The same can be said for an application, a great application looks good because the functions work well from within. A good style of design needs to be eye-catching in having a logical data flow for the end user. This would either be a call to action button or a form triggering input from the user, (do something now !!!!). To make this stand out or eye-catching you could add rounded corners or shiny colours to make your page look great and cool. The design of a product isn’t finished when it works, but completed when it makes people feel good
Everyone has the ability to make something work, but this will require a certain level of logic. But only a small group of people are able to produce a product that users actually want to use, touch or continue to use over again. This actually takes a certain level of skill and be quite challenging, this is what makes your customers stay and give a 5* rating. When your customers like your product they will share it with their friends, family and colleagues, this could be through word of mouth or through social media. When you look after your products you take care of the fine detail, this is how a finished product feels and looks great. It is the close detail that shows your customers that you value them: this is what makes them stay. To summarise, a good design is a product that make people feel valued, not only a product that functions well.
A good design is the beginning of a long relationship with a product
A good design follows the basic rules of life, being honest to your users or customers. The product also needs to be made simple, smart, fun and desirable. It is important that you do not play tricks or fool your customers, this will lose their trust and they will not return to your site. Once your customers are let down it will be difficult to regain their trust. A good design promises that your relationship with the product will be a long one. So when you design a product, you should always think long term, in terms of goals.
The design of your product has already began before you were even born
The journey and life of a product follows the same path as evolution, the design will evolve over time. A new product or feature is never invented from scratch, the product would be just a new iteration of the design before it. This iteration could be built on past designs going back decades or even centuries. So when you try and design something new, don’t reinvent the wheel, but take what you already know and make it better. This will contribute to the product’s design and evolution. A good design is never down to individual effort, it is a collective one. Never reinvent the wheel.
Good design is about removing, not adding
“A good design is about simplification”, this was stated by Steve Jobs. One of the most common mistakes about technology is to think you need to fill the table with loads of great things. A lot of choices will make your users happy. In reality people don’t like to be given too much choice because they don’t know what to do with it, and this makes them feel uncomfortable. When customers buy your product they want to trust that you have chosen the things that are good for them. So when you design a good product it is important that you know what your customers need. Plus try and serve your product in courses and never put everything on the table at once.