Nice article by Kate Canales of design mind on why the best designs don’t come from good tools or cool workspaces, but from good teams. I also like her emphasis on the fact that designers are (optimally) not just “style makers” but “systems thinkers.” An excerpt:
A perception persists that designers are the arbiters of style, and that we work mainly in slick big-city lofts behind oversized computer monitors. There’s no doubt that many of us do love giving form to objects (likewise, few can deny the allure of a nice loft). But design is now so much more than aesthetics. Designers are systems thinkers. We create everything from electric vehicle infrastructures and citywide transit networks to social media healthcare apps and countrywide HIV helplines.
To create these kinds of complex systems we have to spend time doing research in the field, so we can understand who will be using what we design and how they will use it. This is how we can make designs that are relevant and usable.
Here’s a link to the full article, which describes a recent pilot project she worked on in rural Zambia ”that used text messaging to deliver lab results between doctors and HIV-positive mothers and infants.” Great stuff.
