Designers must Develop Critical Insight

Designing Designers
Sep 24, 2008
9 Comments



Image source: Insight

One of the key factors I noticed in any successful product and/or design, was that the product’s designer had some kind of critical insight.

It is this “ah-hah!”, this “Wow!”, this “Eureka” moment that can turn any design into a great one. It gives meaning to a product’s form, its function or even its existence. Therefore it is vital that designers develop and enhance their thinking skills to a level that allows them this critical insight.

So if you notice that you are just coasting your design/concept/model along the pathways of a design process it is likely that the design is going nowhere and will end up as an “oh-hum” product very similar to what the majority of the world churns out.

Easier said than done, I know.

So how do we find this critical insight? My suggestions, in no particular order of importance:

1) Anchor your design with a strong user centered research methodology. Have a good understanding of the user’s needs and wants, and a be very very observant.

2) Focus on the type of experience your product is trying to create.

3) Be aware of the natural and synthetic environments your product has to “live” in.

4) Know well and understand the requirements of the product and what it is trying to achieve.

5) Be inspired, not bogged down, by the entire design process.

6) Have a wide range of related and un-related multidisciplinary interests in areas surrounding the design problem.

I just want to end this post with a quick note. A critical insight also has to be meaningful to the context of the product. Otherwise it will just be a gimmick.




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    • Comments

    jS
    Sep 24, 08 – 10:45 pm

    fully agreed. i think adding this ingredient to a design process will deliver something that can make a person smile. examples: WD Passport hard drive; work done by Nendo; and Fukasawa.

    Allan
    Sep 25, 08 – 2:59 pm

    That ah-hah moment seems so random and unpredictable. Is there any way to encourage ah-hah?

    jS
    Sep 25, 08 – 3:25 pm

    one way to encourage it, is to always believe in what you design.

    JIm Rait
    Sep 25, 08 – 9:13 pm

    Hypothesis: The moment of insight comes from observing the consumer/user/customer “in the wild” and reflecting on those observations with a mound of other information from various sources. It seems like a WOW moment but that is only the point at which we “see it makes sense”. In fact it is a bit like blowing up a balloon …. it takes a lot of ‘huff and puff’ to inflate it but the moment it bursts is the only thing we remember….
    Insights are the key to upping the likelihood of successful design. The Economist pointed me to an interesting book on Why Things Fail….http://snipurl.com/3u05i [www_economist_com]
    They point out “Mental Inventions” are the worst way to innovate (no insights there!..Segway?). Insightful approaches,

    Cameron
    Sep 26, 08 – 12:26 am

    IDEO’s “the Art of Innovation” book is very helpful on creative brainstorming methods.

    JIm Rait
    Sep 26, 08 – 1:05 am

    This link is interesting….http://snipurl.com/3u7d8 [darmano_typepad_com]

    niblettes
    Oct 03, 08 – 4:41 am

    Hey DT (it has been a while)

    The issue of critical thinking and design is perhaps one of my biggest frustrations with the industry.

    Critical thinking isn’t just a set of simple techniques. It

    DT
    Oct 05, 08 – 4:36 pm

    Hi Niblettes!

    Welcome back! It is very good to hear from you. Hit my point pretty squarely on the head. I’ve noticed this shift also because I find pure styling is getting just too competitive and also people are getting more and more immune to “eye candy”.

    Thanks and good to hear from you. Please keep in touch.

    Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog » Can you Measure the Success of your Designs or ideas?
    Nov 25, 08 – 10:37 pm

    [...] who base most of my decisions on a “gut” feel developed through years of experience and critical insight, this quantifying concept really got me [...]


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