What does ‘Design is everything’ mean to you?

We believe that #DesignIsEverything and would love to hear your thoughts on what this phrase means to you, whether you’re actively involved in the design or not.

We asked industry practitioners to give us their thoughts on the phrase ‘Design is everything’. Here’s what a few of them said:

“Design is about the purpose, artefacts, systems, experiences, teams, interfaces, uncertainties, viability, process and, above all else, delight.” John Clarkson, Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Cambridge.

“It is the approach we take to deliver a solution to a problem or to exploit an opportunity. What results from that is the ‘design’, be that product, process or system.  We got there by design, not by accident.” David Wright, Director of Strategic Relationships at Coventry University and Vice-Chair of the IET Design and Production Sector Executive.

With the view of publication, we would also like to hear your thoughts on good and bad design. We also asked industry practitioners about their design that inspired them. There were lots of technological innovations and engineered designed recognised for their excellence.

Anne Whiteley, Design and Development Engineer at the AMRC and member of the IET Design and Production Sector Executive exemplified Bluetooth technology saying it:  “allows digital connectivity between devices such as wearable health monitoring devices, mobile phones, homes, automotive, and entertainment all of which can be seamlessly connected.”

Whilst Jeremy Hadall, Chair of the Design and Production Sector Executive Committee said: “inspiring designs aren’t just good looking, they perform a function and they do it so well no-one notices, and they stand the test of time. A great example of this is the Bic Cristal. It might be just a biro, but it is a study in simplicity that functions exactly as you expect.”

We want to lead a discussion on the importance of design in helping society, governments and businesses to engineer a better world. We think #DesignIsEverthing and we want to help engineers to champion design in their everyday lives to reconnect with their ‘inner design self and get company leaders within engineering and technology to embed ‘design as strategy’.

Most importantly, we would love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts on what the phrase #DesignIsEverything means to you, ideally emailing 50-100 words to SEP@theiet.org. We’ll be collecting your contributions and creating an online scrapbook of ideas received.

You can also get involved on social media too! Mention us @theiet and use our hashtag #DesignIsEverything.

What do you think about the phrase ‘Design is everything’? We want to hear what this means to you, please email your responses to policy@theiet.org.