Design theory and practice, design processes and factors affecting designing

Design is not one job but a family of professions. It includes industrial (product) design, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, graphic and communication design, fashion design, engineering design, urban planning, interaction and user-experience design, and digital media and game design. Each profession tends to work on a particular kind of outcome: a product (a cordless drill), a system (an appointment-booking app) or an environment (a clinic waiting room).

The nature of the work varies with the profession and the employer. Some designers are employed in large consultancies or manufacturing firms as members of specialist teams; others are freelancers or run small studios. Typical tasks include meeting clients, researching users and markets, sketching and modelling, preparing technical drawings and specifications, costing, liaising with manufacturers or builders, and presenting proposals. Most of this work is collaborative and iterative rather than a single flash of inspiration.

Design professions interact and overlap. A new public library brings together architects, interior designers, landscape architects, structural and services engineers, lighting designers and graphic designers who create wayfinding signage. A consumer product needs industrial designers for form and usability, engineers for mechanisms and electronics, and graphic designers for packaging and branding. Overlap creates richer solutions but requires clear agreements about who decides what.

Career opportunities in design and production also include drafting, CNC programming and machining, digital roles such as UI/UX design and game development, and trades such as cabinetmaking or signwriting. Pathways include university degrees, vocational diplomas, and trade certificates that combine study with on-the-job training.

To investigate a designer, ask what they design, for whom, with which processes and materials, and what values guide their decisions. Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002, is recognised for environmentally sensitive houses that respond to landscape and climate, using light, water, wind and sun to work out how each house will perform.

German industrial designer Dieter Rams, long associated with the electrical goods company Braun, is known for ten principles of good design that favour useful, understandable, honest and long-lasting products.