Designing for People

Designing a good building may not start with drawing. It starts with an understanding of people.

Why? All people have needs and when they commission a designer to do something the better the designer satisfies those needs the happier the client/users will be. So the more you know about them the more you will be able to understand them and the better you will be able to design for them.

In this project you are designing your own building so you need to think hard – about yourself! Typical things you need know: What things do you like as a client? How do you intend to use your design? How will you interact with it? How does the design reflect your values? How does the design reflect your interests?

Simple not Simplistic The search for and value of simplicity in design

Ockham’s Razor Given a choice between functionally equivalent designs the simplest design should be selected. William of Ockham (or Occam) was a 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar who's name is given to the principle that when trying to choose between multiple competing theories the simplest theory is probably the best. This principle is known as Ockham's razor.

Other Internet search services added advertising and extra functions to their web sites. Google kept its design simple and efficient. The result is the best performing, easiest to use and most popular search service on the web.

The Taburet M Stacking Stool Is strong, comfortable, and Stackable. It is constructed From how many components? The Yamaha Compact Silent Electric Cello. This minimalist design has only structural elements and the portions touched by the player.

“Entities should not be multiplied without necessity” – William of Ockham. “Nature operates in the shortest way possible” – Aristotle. “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” – Albert Einstein.