What are they talking about when they talk about design?

I laughed for a long time when I saw this joke, but it was a little sad to calm down and think about it.

As a designer, I believe I will often hear something similar in my work:

The background color is not nice. Why don't you try another color? Highlight the sense of science and technology!

The words are too small to be atmospheric. Zoom in ... zoom in ... bigger!

Hearing this, you may complain that these people don't understand design and like to point fingers; You may also work overtime all night according to the boss's idea, but the boss says it's not what he wants. The result is that your time is wasted in endless physical labor. You have no time to touch new things and have no time to rest. You become exhausted. Seeing that a year has passed quickly, I still can't produce a decent work.

Why is this the result? In fact, the design industry in China is still in its infancy, and unqualified designers and decision-makers who don't understand design are grabbing a lot. Designers lack product or technical knowledge, and decision makers lack design knowledge, which leads to high communication costs. If the decision-makers can't convey their ideas correctly and the designers don't dig the real needs, they can't give full play to their talents and can only do art work. Although the status of designers has been improved in recent years, and there are many talents on dribbble, compared with foreign design industry, the overall environment is still impetuous, and most of them only pay attention to form, lacking usability and creativity.

So, back to the original topic, when they say they want to add a light to the button, do they really just want to add a light? As a designer, how can I communicate with them to save myself from the hot water?

I saw a video on TED earlier, which introduced a magical gold ring, and we can find the problem through this ring. Why is it called the golden circle? Because whenever I have a problem, I will think back to this circle. Just change my mind and some problems will be solved.

You may not understand this picture. Give an inappropriate example. For example, a young man said to a beautiful girl he just met, "There is a movie just released recently. I hear it's very good. Are you interested in watching it together? " At this moment, what was the young man saying? The movie was good. It seems that I just want to see a movie with a girl. So, as a girl, do you need a long snack? Find out what he really needs. He may be bored and can't find anyone to accompany him to the movies, or he may want to try to get along with girls. Well, if he is evil again, he may think of ONS. The rooms are all open. Listen, it's important for a girl to find out why!

Then we now match it with the design. What is the outermost part of the circle? This is the expression and form of design. Central ring is HOW, a means to realize appearance, and refers to the process of design thinking and production. The innermost core circle is WHY, which can be understood as the core requirement and design purpose, and everything and how are for it. This is what we designers need to dig and save us!

Many times, the communication between our designers and decision makers often stays in the outer two rings. Back to the example at the beginning, when the product manager said that he wanted to add lights to the button, he directly gave the answer through his own thinking. You must all know the meaning of adding a light, but what is the core demand of the product manager? Guess, maybe this button is very important, hoping to improve the click rate, but the effect is not outstanding enough now. Is there any other solution to this problem besides adding a light? Finally, you enlarge the button, lighten the color, add a shadow, and finally add a light by the way. The product manager took a look, "Perfect, that's the effect!" Look, it's simple, right? Mission accomplished!

Let's take another look. What are they saying when they say "the color is not good-looking", "the words are too small" and "the sense of technology"? When they say "change the color" and "enlarge the word a little", they are talking about how they are proposing their own solutions to this phenomenon. When they say "this feeling is not right", they draw the conclusion that this design is not suitable from their past life experiences and experiences. However, due to the lack of basic knowledge of design or other reasons, I can't express my core needs in words. From beginning to end, they just expressed their dissatisfaction with the design, hoping that you can give a better design.

Designers need to tap the core needs according to what they say, use your ideas to solve problems from a professional perspective, and finally give them what they are ultimately satisfied with. This may be completely different from what they said. Only in this way can we reflect the value of designers. Do you still think it's so simple to be a good designer? You have a lot to do. In addition to professional knowledge, you may also need to know the company's development direction, business details, learn technology and management, and even learn some psychology.

There is a great difference between design and art, and art can express its inner feelings at will. But the design is different. The design caters to the public's aesthetics to a certain extent. What you have to do is to find the optimal solution among many schemes. Since it caters to the aesthetics of the public, it cannot be imagined out of thin air. To find out who they are facing and why they are doing this, social status, cultural background and life experience will all affect a person's judgment. Ask more why, starting from the center of the golden circle. I think many problems can be solved.

Designers are a profession with a low threshold. After two months of mechanism training, you can become a so-called "designer". Designers are also a high-threshold profession. It is not easy to make a good design. You need to master eighteen martial arts to be independent. I believe that all professions need your love and persistence to go further, and so does design. Xiu Yuan is a long way to go, and Xiu Yuan is Xi, * * *