Design is as Godly as Water
Power of Mindful Design
Keywords: Experience Design, Design Thinking, Positive Deviance, design inspiration, UX Design, and Water
Abstract
In today’s modern world, the value of water and mindful design have become important aspects to understand their inherent vitality. Having said that, if we look around, ignorance towards water clearly highlights our unfortunate deed to not realize the fundamental nature of water. Remember playing in the rain when you were a child, you were clueless about the properties of rain but you could experience and feel the same, that’s what we’re forgetting as designers if we get inspired by water that could make us feel what we are, similarly, the product should give us the best experience possible and do justice without even knowing the technicalities of the product. This thought process should form the fundamentals of the Design approaches adopted by our system. As a part of the Design community, we should utilize our resources by using healthier approaches for the user and the ecosystem by respecting their time and attention. The propelling features of DESIGN APPROACHES, if consciously understood layer by layer and implemented thoroughly, the output would not be less than water. That’s what makes Design as godly as water.
Give yourself two mins and count how many times you came in contact with water, today? Now think of your emotional response or feelings experienced with each of that contact When you washed your hands, drank a glass of water, filled your water bottle, washed your face, your plate, your clothes, poured water in your plants, etc. When a hot sunny day drains your energy, water gives you life whether you drink it or splash it on your face, just works like a miracle!
When you dance on the beats of rain, it surrounds you with a soothing, calm, and warm feeling. It makes you feel relaxed. Listening, watching, and looking at any form of water, so to say sky makes you feel wonderful, doesn’t it? When you are on the beach, you feel that you’re present in that moment, you feel relaxed and you instantly feel the sensations in your body and feel happy, it puts you into a mind meditative state.
Design impacts the customer’s overall experience from a product or service. Every designer wishes their designs to be perfect and provide the consumer with the best experience. That’s when the thought came to me that I want my designs to have properties of WATER. Whenever people use any product, the experience should be comforting and satisfying as water makes you feel on a hot sunny day. The utility of a product motivates the customers to adopt it but the overall experience keeps the customer’s desirability and thrust.
Let’s talk about the properties of water
Totally inspired by such properties of water makes me think that why we as designers can’t bring the exact essence in our designed products and services? Why can’t our designs give the same sensations of satisfaction to users? Why our designs can’t put them in an ecstatic state. Equalizing the experience of design with that of experience of water should be the goal of a designer so that whenever people use any product, they find themselves comfortable and fulfilled, you remember the way how the water felt on a hot sunny day, exactly like that. The utility of a product motivates the customers to adopt it but the overall experience keeps the customer’s desirability and thrust intact.
Transparency
Such as water, all the products should be transparent. Transparent in the sense that they inform the consumers about what information is being collected and how it is being used according to a study by Harvard Business Review most of the users are aware that applications and websites are collecting their data but they are surprisingly unaware about the exact type of data being collected. According to a survey, users are willing to provide data if told beforehand about the purpose and informing them that it will be used to improve the product and safe cause.
Transformability
The magical property of water is it gets transformed from one state of matter and we humans have the power to understand that magic and apply that into our systems while designing any product. We should understand the significance of transformation between different devices as well as across demographics. The more a product is transformable across ages, cultures, consumers with different levels of economic background, and different literacy levels, the more it is accepted and adopted. It will be one of the most valuable factors in the success of any product. One of the most important examples of such a product is Uber. Today uber impacts the lives of millions of drivers and passengers. They all come from different backgrounds and completely different demographics. The ease of use, intuitive design, and fewer steps have all led to the desirability and trust in their services.
Agility and Adaptability
Just as flowing water is always fresh and clean and if it becomes stagnant, bacterias and algae start forming. Similarly, If you are stuck with the same processes and ideas, not checking each step, going only by tradition someday your product will be obsolete and will no longer be desirable by the users. So similar to water you need to be agile and keep moving ahead changing course according to the dynamic business environment. And just as a river adapts to the challenges in its way. Every designer should adapt to the new demands and changing trends of the emerging needs, concept cars, and concept phones is one such example.
Today the user is spoiled for choice and still keeps looking for the latest features. The competition is so fierce that every day is a new launch and even the lockdown proved to be another opportunity and new designs flourished. Hence adaptability becomes the most important aspect of your design, you have to be versatile enough to appease the changing choice of the consumers as well as keep up with the competition.
(Self-painted)
As we know out of all five elements water has the most participatory role in our lives, What significance water has in our day to day life? Water can create health, wellbeing, and agility. Similarly, experience plays the foremost role in any product, which is what makes it successful. The use of the right design process, data, and technology can make a stunning product, which might change peoples’ lives and the same product with the wrong usage of technology, false research data, no user empathy can lead to a substandard product which will ultimately fail to leave its mark in the same way.
In recent times we know that that human consciousness can affect the molecular structure of water. It has its own crystals that can change with even a small input of vibration and these vibrations can be of any form- touch, thought, sound, emotion, or just the presence. Likewise, Design is an iterative process and can be changed at any stage by putting any small input. To generate new ideas or improving existing designs we use different creative brainstorming and lateral thinking techniques such as Random input, Provocation, Reversal, Metaphorical thinking, and SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse), by the help of such techniques designers explore new possibilities. We can see one product can have different aspects/usages. A single input can change the entire product in the same way, as meditation can change the neuronal structure in the brain, and make it dance in a completely different way.
All the fundamental physical life that happens on our planet is actively engaged with water otherwise they cannot sustain but water as a standalone element is not enough, it needs other elements and chemicals to produce and sustain life. It means each element has its own value, similarly, the design is like the soul of any product, to have the best impression on the user it needs to have a similar level of hardware and support. In itself, it might be the best design around but for the user, only a wholesome experience counts. It’s like watching a movie with an amazing story but if the direction and acting are not up to the mark you will never enjoy the movie as much.
(Self-painted)
Conclusion
Collectively we humans are designers, we have always designed our own world. This basic nature of humans has made them evolve and change the face of the world. We have always been an observing species and many of our designs are based on what we have observed in the natural world.
For a long time, we have only designed based on the physical attributes of the natural elements we see, but what if we also inculcate the inherent qualities of those elements. And what is more unique to our planet than water. This thought led me to think about the properties of water that we experience but never really observe in our daily lives. What if, my product has those invisible yet inevitable properties. How unique and at the same time available would that make it? The basic properties of water that I felt could easily be the principal of any design.
A product that has the perfect blend of all these basic ingredients will lead to an overall experience.
References
https://hbr.org/2015/05/customer-data-designing-for-transparency-and-trust
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/adaptive-vs-responsive-design
