A Whole New Mind – Design

The significance of the first sense Design is that design is just as important as the utility of an item. Companies are now recognizing the importance of design and realize that to be competitive they have to make a good product that is effective and appealing.

Democracy of Design discusses how design has been historically for people with money. Design is now accessible for everyone at any budget. Target is given as an example where a well-known high-end fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi who once only provided fashion now designs clothing for the mass populations.

The Design Portfolio is a great resource that gets a person to start thinking about design and resources for accessing and learning about design. The portfolio offers listings of museums, magazines, activities, and guiding principals for design (i.e., Robin Williams’ Contrast Repetition Alignment and Proximity). Who knew that the Real Simple magazine that sits on the back of my toilet is a design resource. On some level I knew I preferred one tool over another, but what I valued most was the utility of the item—I never really thought about how much design innovation went into the tools before they made it onto the store shelves—I figured I was buying the better toaster based on the ratings from Consumer Reports, not just a cute chrome red toaster (which matches the cherry red trivets on my stove).