Level 0
Understanding Design
What design is, and why humans do it
Start from absolute zero. What design actually means, why it exists at all, and the thinking that separates it from art and decoration.
By the end of this track you can
- Define design without reaching for the word 'aesthetics'
- Explain why constraints make design possible rather than limiting it
- Separate design from art, craft, and decoration
- Read any everyday object as a set of deliberate decisions
Module 1
What Is Design?
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Design is the deliberate act of shaping something - an object, image, space, or experience - to solve a problem for someone, within real constraints.
Module 2
Why Humans Design
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Humans design because our bodies are unspecialized but our minds can plan - so we shape tools, clothing, shelter and systems to close the gap between ourselves and the world.
Module 3
Design vs Art
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Design and art share methods and materials, but design is accountable to a problem and an audience, while art answers primarily to the artist's own intent.
Module 4
Design vs Decoration
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Decoration embellishes a surface; design determines whether the thing works at all. The two can coexist happily, but mistaking one for the other produces objects that impress and fail.
Module 5
Function and Form
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Function is what a thing does; form is what it looks and feels like. The long argument between them is really an argument about which one should be decided first.
Module 6
Understanding Problems
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Before designing any solution a designer must understand the problem - who has it, why it exists, what has been tried. Solving the wrong problem well is still a failure.
Module 7
Constraints in Design
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Constraints - material, budget, time, technology, regulation - are not obstacles standing in the way of design. They are the conditions that make design necessary and often make it better.
Module 8
Users and Context
8 minWhat you’ll learn
A design is only good or bad relative to a particular person in a particular situation - the same object can succeed completely for one user and fail completely for another.
Module 9
Introduction to Visual Design
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Visual design is the deliberate arrangement of shape, color, type and space to communicate meaning and direct attention before a single word has been read.
Module 10
Introduction to Design History
8 minWhat you’ll learn
Design history traces how objects, images and systems evolved in response to technology, materials and society - showing that today's choices sit inside a long chain of cause and effect.
Next track
Visual Fundamentals