Before it looks good, it has to work: Rethinking what design really means

And while it can feel that way sometimes, that’s only because so much of design actually swims underneath the surface. Good design lives in decisions that shape our everyday existence. In seamless moments when things work. And, when poorly designed, in daily inconveniences. When you think about it, just for a second, you realise that design shapes everything: how we sit, how we move, how we pay, how we learn, how we trust.

For students considering design as a serious discipline, and for parents trying to understand its relevance, the real shift is this: design isn’t merely about making things prettier, though aesthetics do play a part. Its real function lies in making systems work better.

Here are ten ways design quietly elevates our everyday lives.

Modern life places sustained demands on the human body. We sit longer, commute farther, stare at screens for hours. In that context, comfort is not indulgence. It is performance infrastructure.

Ergonomic furniture, climate-responsive architecture and even the spacing of seats in a metro coach reflect deliberate choices about posture, circulation and cognitive fatigue. In cities like Delhi, where summer temperatures regularly cross 40 degrees, ventilation systems and shaded transit corridors are not luxuries. They are design responses to climate.

Comfort doesn’t announce itself. But when design gets it wrong, your body knows it.

Consider how millions use UPI platforms such as Google Pay or PhonePe with such ease every day. The clarity of icons, the sequence of prompts, the reassuring transaction sound. Each element reduces hesitation.

And there’s a lot of work that goes into that. Good interface design removes friction because designers iterate till they’ve hit the perfect balance between ease and efficacy. It anticipates confusion before it arises because designers study user groups and their interactions with the product till it becomes second nature to them. When it all succeeds, users don’t stop to admire it. They simply complete the task at hand.

The invisibility of design isn’t absence. It is precision.

Take, for instance, the shape of a motorcycle helmet. The grip on a staircase railing. The brightness of street lighting in residential neighbourhoods. These look like aesthetic decisions, but aren’t. Each of these is based on calculations about human behaviour.

In India, where two-wheelers dominate the roads, helmet design determines not just protection but adoption. If it is too heavy, too hot or poorly ventilated, it won’t be worn consistently. Product design, in that sense, shapes survival.

Safety works best when it asks no effort from the user. And that effortlessness comes from design.

Tactile paving on railway platforms for the visually impaired, ramps integrated into public buildings for those who need wheelchairs to get around, voice-enabled digital interfaces in regional languages for the millions who can’t read comfortably. These aren’t add-ons, but commitments to inclusion.

India’s digital public infrastructure has shown how interface clarity can bring first-time users into formal financial systems. When instructions are intuitive, adoption expands across age, geography and literacy levels.

Applying that same approach to our physical infrastructure opens doors, literally.

Why does one website feel credible while another feels suspicious? The layout of a news homepage. The placement of a “Buy Now” button. The colour of a political campaign poster. Typography, spacing, information hierarchy and colour signals influence perception within seconds, often without us being aware of it.

In crowded information environments, persuasion is not only about argument. It is about presentation. The same message, structured differently, produces different responses.

Design frames the story before the story begins.

Walk into a temple lit for a festival, or watch an animated film that makes you unexpectedly tear up. Light, colour, proportion and sound create emotional texture.

Indian cinema has long understood the power of production design, from elaborate mythological sets to hyper-real urban landscapes. Global studios like Pixar have demonstrated time and again how colour palettes, character proportions and environmental design evoke empathy across cultures.

And that’s not a small thing. Emotion creates stronger memories. Emotion can trigger action. Emotion can guide decisions. And it often stems from clever design.

And we’re constantly building them. From your morning routine to the Delhi Metro, it’s all systems. One is suited to you, and the other to millions of commuters. It is ticketing logic, colour-coded lines, signage placement, crowd flow management and maintenance protocols working in coordination.

Systems design anticipates scale. It plans for peak hours. It considers breakdowns before they occur. It connects moving parts into a coherent experience.

When systems are thoughtfully designed, cities function with less friction. When they are not, inefficiency becomes everyday reality.

Retail environments guide you through curated journeys. Museums use spatial sequencing to build narrative arcs. Even school classrooms can be designed to signal authority or collaboration.

In architecture, materials and light communicate values. A courthouse, a temple and a startup office each tell different stories before a word is spoken.

Storytelling is not confined to books and films. It is embedded in our built environment, our lived spaces.

Traditional Indian architecture used courtyards, jaali screens and shaded verandahs to regulate temperature without heavy energy use. Contemporary sustainable buildings are revisiting these principles with modern materials.

Packaging redesign can reduce plastic use at scale. Product lifecycle thinking can extend usability and reduce waste.

When done right, environmental responsibility begins at the drawing board.

Electric vehicles, wearable health devices and smart urban infrastructure begin as design challenges. Engineers make them technically viable. Designers make them usable and desirable.

Technologies fail when they ignore how people actually behave. They succeed when they integrate seamlessly into everyday routines.

The future does not arrive fully formed. It is imagined, prototyped and refined. Again and again.

For students, this means design is not a narrow creative pursuit. It is a discipline that intersects with technology, psychology, business and culture. For the rest of us, it means the industries shaping tomorrow will compete not only on products, but on experience. And experience is structured through design.

That work belongs to design. To design effectively, one must first learn to see differently. To question assumptions. To understand human behaviour as deeply as materials and technologies. To move fluidly between craft, research, systems and strategy. This is where education matters.

With one of the world’s youngest populations and largest talent pools, India stands at a pivotal moment. As industries evolve and global markets shift, the country’s demographic dividend will matter only if it is matched with the right kind of education. How institutes approach design thinking is where aspiration meets execution. The difference lies in whether design is taught as a technical skill – or cultivated as a way of thinking. Institutes that embrace the latter are shaping professionals equipped to respond to complexity with innovation, frugality and clarity.

At MIT Institute of Design, design education is framed in precisely this way. Established in 2006 and now a constituent of MIT Art, Design & Technology University, the institute positions design at the intersection of traditional arts, scientific inquiry and emerging technologies.

Rather than isolating design into narrow specialisations from the outset, the institute’s learning philosophy rests on three interrelated domains: skill, knowledge and formation – concepts that echo the Indian philosophical triad of Sadhan, Sadhana and Sadhya.

Skill refers to the tools and techniques through which ideas take tangible form. Knowledge builds the multidisciplinary base that informs thoughtful problem-solving. Formation, the most critical layer, develops lateral thinking and conceptual clarity – enabling students to translate insight into meaningful solutions.

This philosophy stems from the institute’s broader mission: to promote design as a craft that contributes to life on the planet, to study emerging user aspirations, to integrate research and industry collaboration, and to nurture professionals capable not only of employment but of entrepreneurship.

In an era defined by technological acceleration and social change, such ambition is necessary. That ambition translates into a wide spectrum of postgraduate and specialised programmes, spanning design management, immersive media, game design, AI-enabled design, transportation design, fashion communication, user experience design and more. The breadth reflects an understanding that design today is interdisciplinary, technology-infused and future-facing.

Among these offerings are programmes that respond directly to the defining shifts of our time – from artificial intelligence to the reinvention of global fashion systems.

The M.Des in AI-Enabled Design positions design judgment, human values and contextual intelligence at the centre of AI innovation. Rather than focusing solely on coding or engineering, the curriculum trains students to critically evaluate AI outputs, understand bias, and design meaningful human-machine interactions. Framed through a Human + Machine Hybrid Design philosophy, students learn to orchestrate socio-technical systems where automation supports, rather than overrides, human insight.

Graduates emerge prepared for roles such as AI Experience Designer, Generative Design Specialist, UX Designer and Innovation Strategist – roles that demand both technological fluency and ethical clarity.

Offered with pathways in Fashion Design, Fashion Communication and Fashion Retail Management, the two-year studio-based programme integrates research, industry collaboration and cross-disciplinary learning.

By embedding sustainability, innovation, AI and entrepreneurial thinking into the curriculum, the programme prepares graduates not only to create garments or campaigns, but to rethink fashion systems.

Careers emerging from this ecosystem span fashion marketing, retail strategy, merchandising, brand development and design leadership, reflecting the evolving demands of the industry.

The challenges ahead – climate change, rapid urbanisation, AI integration, shifting consumer behaviour – are design challenges as much as they are technological or economic ones. They demand professionals who can think critically, act ethically and build systems that work at scale.

Institutes that recognise this responsibility are not merely preparing students for jobs. They are preparing them to shape industries.

The decades ahead won’t just be defined by technological breakthroughs, but by how wisely those breakthroughs are shaped for human life. For India’s young designers, the opportunity is not just to adapt to change, but to shape its direction.

Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times.