I once had an experience trying to figure out the hot and cold buttons of a dispenser. This happened while I was waiting to be called upon for an interview session at a startup I just applied to and was really hoping to work at. My people, you don’t wanna know how I was feeling. I did figure it out though and when I did, it hit me that if I struggled this much with two good eyes, what about a blind person? Were dispensers even made with them in mind?

Experiences like this tend to remind me of why good design is important and just how much more we have to do in terms of accessibility and inclusion through design. 

Good design to me is a design that:
– continues to evolve.
– empowers people and organisations or brands or causes. Understanding that we are creating to solve and meet people’s needs and problems thus involving them in the process and constantly creating with them in mind. It’s also understanding the organisations and working to balance their goals with the needs of people.
– is about empathy. Being inclusive of all, proffering feasible and viable solutions that become a win for all. 

It’s not just these three things but I daresay, if these three things are in place, we’re well on our way to imbibing tenets of good design. It’s not just about colours, cool imagery, unconventional fonts and whatnot. There’s a place for those in delivering good design but if what we do as designers is not so much as solving a problem, meeting a need, empowering those intended to interact with it, then we need to redesign. Design at its core is about problem-solving and making the world a better place.