Design: It’s Everywhere, and It’s Everyone’s Business

You know, it’s funny how we go about our day, surrounded by all sorts of stuff, and hardly ever stop to think: “Hey, someone actually designed this!” Design is all around us, in every nook and cranny of our lives. It’s more important than we realise.

Let’s try something. Take a moment, look around you, and play a little game of make-believe. Imagine you could hit a delete button on everything human-made around you. Poof! There go your furniture, the building, your clothes, the cup you’re drinking from, even the phone or computer you’re reading this on. What’s left? Not much, right? Just the raw, untouched bits of nature. This little game is a real eye-opener. It shows us that our world is basically a huge canvas of human design.

Now, I remember this one time in my life when I started learning about graphic design. Suddenly, it hit me — the streets are jam-packed with graphic design! From the street signs to the posters and shop names, it’s everywhere. And it’s not just the fancy stuff; it’s the everyday things too. I also realized this when I looked at the cheap, plastic products in some stores. Even these were designed by someone. That got me thinking about how design is in everything, even the most mundane or unappealing things around us.

When I say design, I’m not just talking about fancy chairs or sleek smartphones. Design is about how we solve problems, big and small. It’s about making our lives easier, more enjoyable, and yeah, sometimes just prettier. It’s in the way your favorite coffee mug fits just right in your hand, the way streets wind through your city, or even how the signs at the airport stop you from getting lost.

But design shouldn’t be this lofty thing. It’s too vital for that. Design is for everyone, and it should never be seen as elitist. Like Richard Buchanan said, design is more than making things — it’s about thinking through problems. And he’s right. Design isn’t just about the stuff we make; it’s about how we think about everything we do.

So let’s all get our hands dirty with design. Whether you’re sketching out a new gadget, planning a community garden, or just figuring out a better way to organize your kitchen, you’re designing. And your ideas? They matter. They bring something new to the table.

In the end, recognizing that design is all around us — and that we’re all part of it — should feel empowering. It means we all have a say in shaping the world we live in. And that’s what makes design not only a professional skill, but a part of being human. So, let’s all be designers in our own right, and let’s make the stuff around us not just work, but work for us.

(Oh… someone even made a video about this image of a ‘world withoud design’… except they made it about ‘techniek’. But they wanted to say ‘creative problem solving’ aka design 😉)