Companies like Apple are making design impossible for startups to ignore. Startups like GitHub, Airbnb, Square, and Fitbit have design at the core of their business, and they're doing phenomenal work. But what is ‘design’ actually? Is it a logo? A Wordpress theme? An innovative UI?

It’s so much more than that. It’s a state of mind. It’s an approach to a problem. It’s how you’re going to kick your competitor’s ass. This handy guide will help you understand design and provide resources to help you find awesome design talent.

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De•sign [dəzajn] is a

method of problem solving. The simplest definition. Design is so many things, executed in many different ways, but the function is always the same. Whether it’s blueprints, a clever UI, a brochure, or a chair – design can help solve a visual or physical problem. 1

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So what is

“good design”? This definition is not so simple. The best designs are notorious for seeming not designed at all – or ‘undesigned’. It’s easier if we break things down a bit. If you know what to look for, it’s easier to identify good design when you see it; or perhaps when you can’t see it at all.

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Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of “Good Design”

(Wow, how convenient is that?) Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and functionalist industrial design. According to Vitsœ: Back in the early 1980s, aware that his design was a significant contributor to the world, he asked himself an important question:

"Is my design good design?" Since good design can't be measured in a finite way, he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the ‘Ten commandments’.) Here they are. 3

Good design is…

4 “We designers, we don’t work in a vacuum. We need business people. We are not the fine artists we are often confused with. Today you find few companies that take design seriously, as I see it.” — Dieter Rams



1.4 Good design can’t be achieved with glossy buttons or masterful wireframes alone. It’s a merger of all these principles into something that is meaningful and deliberate. Just like a great business plan is nothing without expert execution, a great Photoshop mockup is nothing, for example, without careful consideration to UI or the user’s needs. “Fill Can” icon

©1983 Susan Kare

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Objectified A documentary film that provides a look at the creativity behind everything from toothbrushes to

tech gadgets. Watch the complete film here.

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