Design as change

Design is about making change. To drag forward one of the most used quote on the definition of design “To design is to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” – Herbert Simon. Change is the root of designing. Creating a new product, brand or service is about creating change in the lives of the people. From a existing one to a preferred one.

And with the evolvement of the design field, more complex problems are being approached by designers and design consultants such as business, organization and cities. Making designers and design consultants create change in bigger and more complex systems between people.  Regardless of how you approach design you are creating change in people’s lives. If you are a product developer, graphic designer or business developer, people are being affected directly or indirectly by the designed solution. This comes as a result of your design because, the root of the design… is to make change. One of the great aspects of design is the ingrained human-centric point of development which makes the design more often than not empathic for the end users life in the design.  

But one thing that the design approach does not address is that change in itself is hard and filled with resistance. This is because change impart that you move from somewhere familiar to somewhere unknown. Change is an inevitable part of all projects and organisations and the field of change management have been focused on how to deal with change and resistance to change for last couple of decades.