What is Design? ~Manifesto

What is design? Isn’t it just a process of envisioning and planning out the creation of objects, buildings, posters, interactive systems etc.? Isn’t it just a thinking approach or is not it just about creating solutions for people addressing their needs or a problem? Design has no requirements. It is free of rules.

Design is all about one’s imagination, his design practice, aims, and motivation towards permeating a broader concept. It is not only an aesthetic displayed on different applications of your screen. It is not only in the feel of the usability of a product and is not only about solving problems out there. Design is Everywhere. Design is an attempt to bridge the gap between the possibility and desirability. It is a vital component of the economy and an ultimate renewable resource for creativity.

We live in a 24-hour design empowered society, where nothing is left un-designed. We are always in search of new ideas and innovations, where design is only a translation of great ideas. Design is an aspect of our daily life which does not exist in isolation or interests of a designer. The importance could be diversified resulting in different contexts within a design being visualized or created. Our concept, strategy, and desires alter as we respond to the modifications around us.

Design as a language is not just about finding solutions to problems, it is more about visualizing ideas, activating spaces, intuiting proportions as well as meticulous attention towards details. It is just a tool which is expected to resolve queries related to orientation, documentation, and information. It is all about plain living and high imagination.

The design is neither about illustrating visuals with strong concepts behind them, nor it is in constructing a product under the concept of function over design. Design is even in biological diagrams. It is in every detail which surrounds us. While we ourselves are a design.

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Good or Bad Design:

Design is always at its best when there are challenges and responses, whether it is between the client and designer, writer and creator, stylist and artist or a collaboration between designers. It is always vision and content which will make good work stand out.

Good designs should always consider the way we live and every possible context. We are not intellectuals, we are just trying to do the best we can, to add something to the world and to earn a decent living. In contrast to good design, it is being said that a bad design is a design which is not aesthetically pleasing and do not fulfill its purposes. But the question here is who can draw the line between a good design or a bad design and what if bad design never existed? Maybe it is just our vision which categorizes a design into a good or a bad design. Every design is not there to fulfill a purpose, some designs exist just because they appeal to the ones who created them. At times, the design, a designer create for a client is a good design for the client but a bad design for the designer himself. Maybe there are no norms to define a good design or a bad design and what exists is just “DESIGN”.

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Complete or Incomplete Design:

I am mostly concerned with design that has the capability to transcend the spectator's heart. While scrolling in Pinterest, Behance or Instagram I usually come across some of these professionally accomplished and well executed designs that more often puts me in a state of astonishment. But it is what I perceived and what is being envisioned by me. Is the design being processed by me, is a complete version of artwork by the designer? As a designer, I have perceived that no design is ever being completed, each design has some margins to be improved or enhanced with time. Is a design ever being completed??

Designs accomplished by humans are never termed as perfect. The instant we perceive them, they leave us in a state of amazement but the moment we look deep into them we discover that there is some space for improvement within it, but the context of artwork remains the same. For example, Robert Hooke was the person to describe cells in a cork. The cell introduced by Robert Hooke was merely just a compartment but later after many discoveries by other scientists it was discovered that cell constitutes of different organelles resulting in a more complex diagram of cell. Whether a diagram of cell illustrated as simple or complex cell; the context of cell remains the same. It will remain the building block of life.

True Apprehension or Incorrect Apprehension in Design:

There is nothing recognized as a true apprehension or an incorrect apprehension when it comes to design. In all other stances of consciousness, there is a change of perceptual form which could be determined as a transition from simple design to more of an observant design.

When it comes to design within the constraints of true apprehension or incorrect apprehension there is a disassociation between physical reality and the subjectivity. Apprehension somewhat lies within illusions or surrealism, where the principles of designs are being followed but there is no mark of the existence of such illustrations in the real world. Which leads us to determine that we can design anything even if it exists or not, and whether it could be perceived or deceived.

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Visual or Technological Design:

The definition of where design ends and begins in is becoming more and more blurred, as technology and functional constraints begin to further determine visual constraints. As a result, I think that design will become more clearly divided along visual and technological lines. I really enjoy the space between the visual and the technological aspect of it. As well as negotiating the space between technology and aesthetic will be the most successful in the future. The interrelationship between print, interactivity and motion graphics is an interesting space that will become more and more valuable in the future. Visual language occurs all around us and this will not change. How visual language interacts with popular culture, technology and mediums will remain at the heart of what makes design as a discipline so interesting, and ever evolving.

A couple of years ago, we did not expect the designs to be used and exist on the Internet. The future of design is something that we are unable to imagine. Soon, design will become Anything, and Everything will become design. Even no design will be designed. That is, WHAT IS DESIGN.