Design Solutions is the only solution left that can save your startup.

Credit Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash

Today everyone is talking about Design Solutions. Everyone is trying to decipher the concept and the codes of design solution to push their business more than ever.

But is design solution the gift of 20th century, the age of apps and products or was it there before, even in the age of apes?

In this blog, we have tried to find out the root, deciphering the why and how of design solution. Rest below-

The First Ever Design Solution:

It was our great, great and great grandfather (add few more greats. That would be great!) who kickstarted the movement. He just needed to light a fire. So, he and his best buddy designed a solution.

Two better shaped stones, more friction and Voila! quick fire and less hassle.

Image Credit Wikipedia

Aren’t we witnessing the very beginning of design solution?

But their successors were not happy with mere stones.

“Oh! So primitive!”, they cursed and then they designed something better. And this is how we began our quest of designing solution to overcome challenges.

Mankind progressed and look we don’t use stones to light a fire today. We have designed far better mechanism and products which have more user-friendly features and better user-experience. Aha. Familiar jargons! Right?

Design Solutions is not new:

We believe design solution has been underplayed greatly till the day some iPhone fan or UI-UX gurus started to write on it or Uber came up with some useful UI-UX elements.

Each and every great discovery of our human civilisation has been iterated for better and more user-friendliness. From Wheels to Clocks, the design solution was there as a loyal cog getting things done, making things better.

Image Credit Wikipedia

Transformation of Wheels: A great visual example of Design Solutions marked by Iterations, Modifications, Innovations.

It’s there in Nature too:

Wonders about design solution is that it was not invented by any breed or tribe of Homo Sapiens. The concept and the practice was there before, at the very heart of nature.

Look around and we will find how the nature has resolved each and every problem or overcome the challenges with design.

A Cactus has been designed in such way that it can store water and stay alive in the desert.

The leaf movements during photosynthesis is a supreme example of design solution too.

These are just the tip of the icebergs. There are tons and thousands of examples, from human body to tiny and trivial natural elements proved the design solution is omnipotent and omnipresent.

So, what’s the big fuss now?

For every challenging situation, the human beings have been smart enough to find solution with design thinking. Something better to use, something more convenient to do jobs have always been the quest. It was so spontaneous, so usual that there was no need to write a blog on it.

Question is, why there is so much talk now?

Credit goes to technology. It has built the bridge between innovations and users. Technology has made everyone consumers, creators, artists, enablers and doers.

Now, all of us can invent fire, design our own wheels, do our regular stuff, dream of disrupting what we don’t like and the list goes on. Now to make this phenomenon viable, technology needs a foundation and here it connects with the design solution.

Long story short,

Bigger the consumption ratio, greater the need of design solution.

Because only the design solution has the power to tie up different races, creeds and needs and shape up the product to get their job done.

And the dividends are huge:

Enough of fire, wheel and Cactus, let’s have an easy-to-consume example.

We will start with Google search engine’s earlier design. It was a highly competitive race to win the Dotcom business. Google cracked the code with some clever Design Solutions.

The existing player out in the market was cluttered and confusing.

Google made the job easy with better design solution.

This was the start of new-age design solution when the practices of “Design Solution” received it’s due limelight. And when Steve Jobs came up with Apple products, everyone realises the significance of solutions led by design..

The only solution left

Now technology has enabled more people to chase their dream and do business.

And to be successful in today’s digital business, to cater to niche or larger group of audience, they need to resolve a problem, big or small.

How to resolve a problem? They need to design the solution. What’s that? It’s not just about making a beautiful screen or an appealing hardware, creating a nice workflow but the whole of it and every tiny detail of it.

Solutions where design takes the charge from day one and guide the creators across the product journey, from ideation to completion understanding the need of the hour and the users.

When we arrive at right design solution, we create a sustainable and successful product.

Like Basecamp.

Like Intercom

Like Slack.

Like Google Home.

And tons and thousands of other products which are shaping up modern age.

The Greatest Catalyst for Startup Success:

Day by day it’s getting tough for emerging startups. The tech juggernauts are stifling their new innovations.

We have taken this image from one of Jason’s blog

Any doubt?

Just a glimpse of Google’s few Products

Emerging startups can never pump in money in marketing like Amazon or Google. But if they keep iterating their products with better design solutions, they still have a good chance to win their share of pie.

Once the startups start to shift their focus to design solution, they will start understanding their audience more than ever. In long run solutions driven by design thinking also contributes to the Product Thinking helping startups to amplify the chances of having a good product market fit.

Question is are you ready to do the exercise as some of your ancestors did before a compelling need?

We would love to listen from you. What’s your take on the omnipresence of Design Solutions and how will you incorporate it in your product? Share with us.