The Ds In Design

THE Ds IN DESIGN

According to Steve Jobs, Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, design is how it works. Some other authors defined it as a process that can help solve a visual or physical problem.

I have been consciously learning about these concepts and using what I learnt I have been able to proffer solution to a real life problem using design. In the course of creating designs with great user interface, and using a trade by batter platform (ExSwap) I designed, I have come to identify some concepts in design which I will call the Ds in design. They are:

Data

When working on a new design project it is very easy for designers to assume the role of the user, but we tend to forget that no two user can ever have the same experience when using a product. The importance of data can never be over emphasised, it opens door to features or users need that a designer might not even think necessary.

Devices

Now you determine the type of device you want to design for, is it a desktop view (website), or a mobile view (mobile app), this will help you know what to sketch. Using Figma as my design tool, I could easily get predefined sizes of frames by going to the frame menu or clicking on “F”, this afforded me the opportunity to get varieties of frame size and make my preferred choice.

Designing for various screens

Define

At this point you can define the flow of the design, create a user flow which will show the process through which a user will use the app, two users might not have the same approach to using a platform, so you have to show cases where one thing can be achieved through more than one process. here is a flow i made for the ExSwap app.

User flow for ExSwap App

Drawing

Now that the device to be designed for and the flow for the design has been gotten, sketches needs to be made, wireframe also can be made after sketching, it is likely that the flow of the design might change a little when you begin designing, just draw out as many screen as you think will be needed, do not border with their order of appearance yet, further along the line you can arrange them properly.

Sketches for ExSwap App

Design

Design, design, design, make a low-fidelity design of all the sketches and then a high-fidelity of the sketches made earlier and also prototype your design as to be able to get the users experience when using it. Prototyping can be very useful too when you want to conduct user testing.

Low-fi design of ExSwap App (wireframe)

Detailed Design

High-fi design of ExSwap App

standard designs can be produced using these Ds of designs.