Ep 247| Is Every Design Solving a Problem?" "Design Without Problems: Should We Innovate? 7/8/2024

Foreign.

Welcome to this podcast. Thank you for staying tuning in with me in this Design for Change podcast. Today we are going to see very very interesting thing. Should a design always solving a problem? Is a design without a problem? Should we really innovate? Does every great design start with a problem? Do we have to innovate or stagnate? What are the truth about this design problem? A lot of people have a dilemmas between problem statement and design and everything, right? In this podcast I'm going to help you how to understand this perspective and how to clarify while you're going forward because this should not stagnate you on the process. Okay, this is one of the pain point which one of my student has asked and I'm recording this as a podcast because it has to go into a lot of people to get this clarity. Okay, let's jump in. Yes guys. So welcome to this particular podcast. Thank you for staying tuning in with me. And if you're not subscribed my channel, please do it because we are reaching close to 40 plus countries in Spotify and Apple and lot of thousands of thousands of listeners are listening to this particular podcast and subscribe to my YouTube channel as well, which I pasted the link below for continuous learning and it's all free of cost. Okay, but let me tell you first of all this is a very good question. Why do we have to innovate if there is no problem at all?

Okay.

Does every design has to be solved in a way? Does every design has a problem? Okay, see first the importance is there's a huge relationship between design problems and need for innovation. You need to get this clarity first because without need for something, nobody will innovate. Need is a mother of necessity and it's an invention capability also. People innovate based on that need only.

Okay?

So finding out the relationship between what are the people need and addressing it through design is actually makes the need for innovation to happen. What is the nature of this design and problems? See, typically every design starts with a problem or a need. Don't think like it's only art. Art has a different problem and different need and everything.

Okay?

But if you're solving a problem, if you're seeing design as a whole entity design start with the need of a problem. People has to first understand this. Nothing starts without the need or a problem. We are not just building some applications or products or anything randomly out of nowhere. You need to get this clarity.

Okay?

And also let me tell you what is victim in design. See, victim could be interpreted interpreted as something like an environment, something like a people, something like a system, something like a government sometimes. Okay, I'm not offending anybody. I'm just telling you. Many times we have, we are complaining our system also many times you're complaining the policy, the minister, the individual, the people, the schooling, the education, the parenting, the social construct.

Right?

But facing this problem, actually what designers are aiming to solve, sometimes that is also called as a victim. Then that leads me to the next question. Does every design have a problem? Yes. Guys, this is very, very important. It need not have to be. That's the real answer. Some design is already addressed. You don't have to reiterate and reinvent the wheel and make it worse. Let it be already a wheel. It's already working good, right? So why don't you fix it? It need not have to be always addressing a problem.

Okay?

And let me tell you guys, some of the problem, like let's say the ergonomic office chairs have already solved the back pain issues. You don't have to reinvent a new design. Maybe you can improve on top of it, but it's already there. So when you're designing something, you should have an eye towards seeing what's happening in the market as well. That's more, more important.

Okay, okay.

When there is no problem, apparently, what should we do? Let me tell you guys, when there is no problem, you don't have to reinvent anything. But what you can do is you can re innovate and make it better. That is the better perspective to see. That is the healthier perspective to see. In fact, you have to take the ego out of it. Just because you are in a company, just because you want a job. You don't have to solve something which is already there and you have to re innovate. Okay, have this factor a little bit clear. Because many designs out there, people are just making shopping carts, people are just making redesign of website which is not at all required. Try to find out a problem which is already not solved. Try to improve that on top of your design and your thought process and your innovation.

Okay?

That's called iterative improvement. Yeah, that could also come. See, sometimes it need not have to be a zero based innovation like smartphone. IPhone was the first industry, Apple was the first industries to introduce iPhone. That will not be suitable for every industry. Right. Sometimes you'll have to reiterate also it's okay to innovate and reiterate. But nowadays the smartphones are getting better, cameras are getting better, calls are getting better, the bandwidth are getting better. So that could be also a play. Then what is the role between aesthetics and functionality which is evolving? See, let me tell you guys, it is both same. For me. There is no difference between these two words. If you start seeing the difference between these two words, then you have not really understood the design properly. There is nothing like aesthetic. Separate and then functionality. Separate and then usability. Separate. No, it's all same. I visited a museum called Bohus several years before in Germany. That broken me this perspective. Even the NID's education or any other institute's education or anybody's teaching has not given me that. But that one particular museum has broken me that aesthetic is functionality. Functionality is usability. Usability is aesthetics. Everything is the same word. We all have a different construct in our mind. If you are making a product, it should be looking good, it should be usable, it should be functional. That's the exact point of it. That's my definition. Okay, See, lot of improvement has happened in the car design trend has happened and you can see lot of fashion industry. Everything is evolving. But unless it is functional, unless it is usable, nobody is going to ever get this product. Okay, you need to get this understanding guys. Because this is. This is more, more important. So what are the point now? See, a study by Brown discussed that how design thinking can be applied to address complex problems to improve user experience. It is very interesting guys, because design thinking and innovation is very important. There is a study by Norman in 2013 which emphasized the human centered design importance and iterativeness. You can read a book called Design of everyday things. In 2013 it was released. There are multiple versions of it. You can read that. A survey by Adobe revealed that 87% of the companies believe that continuous improvement and feedback is crucial for their design projects. Nielsen Norman Group's research highlights that usability and user testing and feedback improves to a greater improvement of the product and it enhances the user experience. This is very, very important, guys. A study published by Journal of Marketing Research showed that aesthetic improvement in product design can lead to 30% increase in satisfaction as well. See, everything is important. Functionality is important. Aesthetic is important. Usability is important. End of the day, your customer is getting engaged.

Okay.

Automotive industry often sees style changes driven by consumer preference such as evidence by market trends, sales data. Companies such as Tesla and BMW do that. But also they innovate on building the future, which is. People have not seen that. Also they are also working on future innovation, styling and trend aesthetics and functionality and usability. That's how they're able to hit the sweet spot. That's how they were able to attract a lot more people than outside. As a designer, there is no question like are you really finding out a problem to solve? Are you really reiterating the design or not? Are you really have to find out a problem new or not? It's all up to you. It's your context. But think one thing. There is nothing called aesthetic. There is nothing called functionality. There is nothing called solving this, solving and all end of the day. Are you really making some improvement in the existing design or are you really solving a new problem? If the answer is yes, you are in the right track. If it is no, then you are literally wasting your time and then you are spiraling in and out there. This is the exact answer to conclude this podcast. Okay, thank you for staying tuning guys. And if you're more interested, you can also climb this gift because in this particular gift I give you 30 minutes free call and I'll give you clarity on how we can structure your portfolio resume. And also you have a free pass to attend my creative booster session in Indian time. It is morning, 5:30 to 6 every day. Okay, you can attend that. It's a free of cost call. You can take an advantage. Let me see how serious you are because not a lot of people will come there. Only serious interested candidates will appear there. Okay, so take an advantage of that gift because I'll be not having it for a long because there is an intensive batch which is starting in that program. So take an advantage. See you in another episode. Take care. Bye bye guys.