“Design is the craft of visualising concrete solutions that serve human needs and goals within certain constraints.”

It is always refreshing for me to read articles about design and relearning the concepts of design. In a competitive time-constraining work environment, the designer sometimes create to please the client, often neglecting the needs of the end-user.  The design process is often skipped to meet deadlines as designers rush to solutions.

I think that the design process is very important in achieving the goals of the design. An aspect of understanding the design process that I have not gotten the hang of is the understanding of the user demographics through the creation of user personas. Taking an Interface Design module has helped me understand how user personas help refine the research process. I noticed that my design process comes with loopholes because I do not understand the users well enough. However, with user personas, I have a better understanding of how to craft questions and interviews to aid in my research findings.

 

As with any design process, it takes time to come up with a solution. In the battle to meet deadlines, is there a way to achieve a goal-directed design process without compromising any aspect of it?

I also appreciate the emphasis placed on each aspect of design and the way the design process is broken down in this reading. I feel that user-eccentric design is also achieved through interactions (such as interviews) with the user group itself. Research is a process that can take months and years. When does the designer then determine that the research done is enough to support their work?

I remember I was once brainstorming for a project at  an internship company a few years back. I started to work on my sketches but  halfway through, my art director told me there was no need to delve too deep into the design. He said it was common practice to skip the sketches and head straight into the artwork. To me, sketching was a way to plan and The process of design has always been a conflicting experience for me. Although I enjoy researching and the planning, I often find that I do not have the luxury of time. How do we then, as designers strike a balance between the research and the implementation of the design?