Company
Date Published
Author
Paul Adams
Word count
1924
Language
English
Hacker News points
2

Summary

There are divergent things happening in the product and interaction design community, with some amazing pieces of writing moving the craft forward, while others are moving it backwards by prioritizing superficial work over real business problems. Designers are often focusing on aesthetics rather than solving problems for people within specific business constraints. A clear mission, vision, and product architecture are crucial for great design, and designers should be thinking about these elements throughout their process. The most important design work is not the visually appealing but the one that addresses real problems and has a clear thought process behind it. Designing systems will become increasingly important as the web permeates everything, and designers need to define problems in terms of system components rather than pixels. The Jobs framework for product design can help frame every design problem and ensure clarity. Ultimately, great design is about solving problems, not just creating visually appealing work.