What is a Design Decision?

In addition to the method used to devise a solution, in order for a decision to be considered a design decision, certain criteria in the solution should be met, namely:

Design decisions take into account human considerations, from ergonomics to cognitive capabilities. A good solution has to be useable and useful. Design decisions have some sort of aesthetic component—that is: the beauty and elegance of the execution. This is true even if the solution has no physical component. A good solution has to be pleasurable.

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A decision made that affects a design is not necessarily a design decision. If it doesn’t follow a design methodology to derive a solution that takes into account human and aesthetic factors, it’s not a design decision.

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To call everything a design decision is as diminishing and misleading as calling everything User Experience. It discounts the other types of decision making practiced by other professionals and colleagues with different methodologies than designers, and different criteria for what constitutes a good solution. Not everything is a design decision, nor should everything be. Our job is to navigate, mitigate, and temper all those solutions to create a humane future.

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Posted on January 22, 2020