Starting Points for People Who Don’t “Get” Design

Some people don’t “get” design. Surely this isn’t you, being a bright and beautiful reader of this blog. But you might know some people who can’t wrap their heads around design. That may not be a big deal to some, but if you work as a designer, it can be important to have a way of explaining to important people in your life what, exactly, you do. You may be fine on your own, but if you’re having a problem putting thoughts into words (you’re a visual designer, after all), here are a few points that might help. The people in your life may not be familiar with Magento ecommerce web design, but that doesn’t mean they can’t understand the concept a little better.

Design is Art and Technology. Lots of people probably think of you as an artist. When you explain to them that you create images and web experiences they think you’re an artist online. But you’re not! You’re a designer. Designers create aesthetically-pleasing and functionally-intuitive work. It can be used in signs, apps, websites, posters, mailers, and all sorts of other places. It’s also important for the way money moves around the world. Magento Ecommerce is a perfect example. Its basic elements are technological, but without the artistic elements that create the website, platform, and branding elements, it couldn’t be something that people could use! Design is more than pure art, which is images that convey thoughts or feelings, without being “for” anything. Design is about creating work that includes strong artistic elements, which is also useful in a very practical sense. Every time a new piece of technology becomes used by the public, there are many elements which have to be “Designed”, so that they can be comprehensible and, thereby, useful to these people. In simple terms, design can be explained as “art that’s for something”, even though that might frustrate you if you understand it in a more complex way. Baby steps…

Design Isn’t Good Without the Art Part. Even though design can technically be performed without much knowledge of talent for art, this almost always isn’t good design. That’s why design is a natural career progression for artists, even if they’ve never worked in technology in their lives. Design is a way for artists to translate the complex ideas of engineers and technicians, so that they’re in a form that people can understand. It’s got Magento is breaking out over a bunch of competitor ecommerce brands. Technology is great, but unless it looks and functions well, it won’t work in the real world.

Design is Tough to Get Right, That’s Why There’s a Lot of Money in It. The average person in your life might not understand the similarities and differences between design, coding, web development, and the like. That’s OK. What they should understand is that design is a central part of all developing technologies. Large agencies like WSI Digital Web make a lot of money doing design. If you’re a designer who works for an agency or solo, this is an important way of explaining what you do to the people who matter to you. Depending on your skill sets, you very accurately can explain that you have an important role in creating the web experiences and technologies that we use every day!

Not everybody is going to “get” design right away. It can be tough for designers when friends, family, and significant others think your career is less that what it is. It’s OK to explain and educate in these situations. As a designer, you’re one of the most important minds in the way our world develops.