To most people design seems very abstract and done by the “artsy people”. To me and many others it is a much more down-to-Earth process. But there is one big requirement for a design to be “good”

To have a good design you need to start with a good problem

This is because a design is simply the solution to a problem, in this case visual and code. But if you don’t ask the right questions, if you don’t define the right problem to solve, your design will be poor.

How to define the right problem?

• Ask what will make the biggest impact if removed or added to a situation?
• What do people struggle with most?
• What stops you in your path and limits your progress?
• What is something you wish was there and would pay for without hesitation?
• Who is going to use this and what do they expect and aim for?
• Be extremely specific, don’t try to change the world, change one single bolt in the machine.

If you go through the questions and come up with a very painful problem that either you or others around you have, a problem they are willing to pay to get solved, then you know you have the right foundation to create a good or even great design.