PG #26: Deciding where to draw the line

The line between things

Understanding the boundaries between things is something designers love attempting, but often aren't very good at (Dan Hill is, though).

You can find that out by asking a designer to explain the difference between service, product, interaction, customer experience, or user experience design. There are good definitions of these, and good reasons for thinking about them differently, but those reasons are not easy to communicate to non-designers.

Like Sámi reindeer herders and their 180+ terms for snow, we should not be surprised that designers have more words to describe their job than non-designers are interested in. The problem lies not with defining new aspects of design, but recognising when it's valuable to teach other people where the boundary is between them.

This newsletter is about when it's useful to draw lines between things, and when it isn't. Understanding where and when to draw a line – and understanding when it's useful to show that line to others – is what the best designers learn to be good at.

Happy drawing.