UX design
Designs what it is like to use a digital product, so it is useful, easy to understand, and pleasant.
Public Design Atlas
The disciplines of design, how it is practiced and the knowledge it builds on, with their original sources.
Disciplines
What each discipline designs and the ideas each one has created.
Design research
Researches with people to understand their reality before designing, and makes sense of what it finds.
Service design
Designs the complete experience of a service: what the person sees and what makes it possible.
Interaction design
Designs how a product responds to what the person does: actions, feedback and behavior.
Design futures
Uses design to make possible futures tangible and debate which one we want.
Sustainable design
Designs with the environmental and social impact of what is produced in mind, from start to finish.
Graphic design
Arranges images, type and space to communicate a message to a specific audience.
UI design
Designs what the person sees and touches on a screen: controls, text, hierarchy and states.
UX design
Designs what it is like to use a digital product, so it is useful, easy to understand, and pleasant.
Interaction design
Designs how a product responds to what the person does: actions, feedback and behavior.
UI design
Designs what the person sees and touches on a screen: controls, text, hierarchy and states.
Inclusive design
Designs so that as many people as possible can use something, starting from those left out.
Product design
Designs whole digital products and decides with product and engineering what to build and how to measure it.
Computational design
Designs with computational processes: rules, data and simulations that generate and evaluate forms.
AI design
Designs how we use, understand and correct products powered by artificial intelligence.
Conversational design
Designs conversations with systems, such as voice assistants and chatbots, so they feel natural.
Design research
Researches with people to understand their reality before designing, and makes sense of what it finds.
Information design
Organizes and presents information so it is understood and used well: charts, signs, instructions.
Content design
Decides what content people need and in what form, based on what they need to do.
Graphic design
Arranges images, type and space to communicate a message to a specific audience.
Motion design
Designs how what we see on screen moves: titles, brands, audiovisual pieces and interfaces.
Brand design
Designs how an organization or a product is recognized and remembered.
Editorial design
Designs books, magazines and newspapers, in print and on screen, so they read well.
Environmental graphic design
Designs the graphic communication of a place: signs, lettering, graphics and themed décor.
Illustration
Creates images that inform, explain, tell stories or persuade.
Packaging design
Designs a product’s packaging, which protects it, makes it stand out in the store and is used at home.
Service design
Designs the complete experience of a service: what the person sees and what makes it possible.
Industrial design
Designs mass-produced objects: how they work, how they are used and how they look.
Experience design
Designs what a person goes through and remembers when using something, starting with the reason to use it.
Fashion design
Designs garments and accessories: from fabric and shape to the collection that reaches people.
Spatial design
Designs how people experience and move through a space, indoors or outdoors.
Interior design
Designs interior spaces so they work, are pleasant to live in and convey what they should.
Game design
Designs the rules and challenges of a game so that playing it creates the intended experience.
Exhibition design
Tells a story in space with objects, texts, images and a path through them.
Sustainable design
Designs with the environmental and social impact of what is produced in mind, from start to finish.
Strategic design
Uses design to help an organization decide where to go and how to adapt.
Design management
Organizes design within a company: teams, processes, budget and its link to strategy.
Behavioral design
Designs products, services and policies based on how we actually behave.
Systemic design
Brings together systems thinking and design to intervene in complex social problems.
Business design
Applies design to how an organization creates value, delivers it and makes money from it.
Design for policy
Applies design to creating and improving public policy, based on citizens' experience.
Social design
Uses design to address social needs and support community-led innovation.
Design futures
Uses design to make possible futures tangible and debate which one we want.
Transition design
Designs to drive long-term societal change toward more sustainable futures.
Design for health
Applies the design of products, services, spaces and communication to caring for health.
Learning design
Designs activities, materials and environments so that people learn.
Legal design
Applies human-centered design to law, so that contracts and legal procedures can be understood.
Food design
Brings food and design together: what we eat, how it is served and how we experience eating.
Practice
How design is done: approaches, processes, methods and artifacts shared by several disciplines.
Approach
Human-centered design
Designing from the needs, context and participation of the people who will use something.
Approach
Design thinking
Tackling open problems the way design does: understanding people, ideating and prototyping.
Process
Double Diamond
Open up and narrow down twice: first to find the right problem, then the solution.
Method
In-depth interview
A long, open conversation with one person to understand their experiences and motives.
Artifact
Service blueprint
A map of the service that shows both what the person experiences and what makes it possible.
Approach
User-centered design
Designing systems around the tasks and abilities of the people who use them, testing early and often.
Method
Contextual inquiry
Observing and asking people questions while they do their work, in their own setting.
Process
Design sprint
Five days to go from an important problem to a prototype tested with real customers.
Approach
Human-centered design
Designing from the needs, context and participation of the people who will use something.
Approach
Design thinking
Tackling open problems the way design does: understanding people, ideating and prototyping.
Approach
User-centered design
Designing systems around the tasks and abilities of the people who use them, testing early and often.
Approach
Participatory design
Designing with the people affected as full partners, not just as informants.
Approach
Co-design
Designing together with the people who will live with the result, with tools so they can create too.
Approach
Research through design
Researching by designing: prototypes are used to generate knowledge, not just products.
Approach
Jobs to be done
Understanding what progress a person seeks in a situation and what they “hire” a product for.
Process
Double Diamond
Open up and narrow down twice: first to find the right problem, then the solution.
Process
Design sprint
Five days to go from an important problem to a prototype tested with real customers.
Process
Contextual Design
A complete process that goes from observing people at work to designing and testing the product.
Method
In-depth interview
A long, open conversation with one person to understand their experiences and motives.
Method
Contextual inquiry
Observing and asking people questions while they do their work, in their own setting.
Method
Ethnography
Spending time in people’s world to understand their daily life and culture from the inside.
Method
Go-along
Accompany someone as they do something in their own setting, like shopping, and ask questions along the way.
Method
Focus group
A moderated conversation with a small group to learn their opinions and how they influence each other.
Artifact
Service blueprint
A map of the service that shows both what the person experiences and what makes it possible.
Artifact
Design system
The set of shared components, rules, and criteria a team uses to build its interfaces.
Artifact
Mockup
How a screen will look, with real colors, type, images and text, but without interaction.
Artifact
Opportunity solution tree
A tree-shaped map that links the outcome you want with people’s needs, ideas and tests.
Foundations
What design takes from other fields of knowledge: their theories and concepts.
Behavioral economics
Studies how we really decide, with biases and shortcuts, rather than as the rational model predicts.
Cognitive psychology
Studies how we perceive, pay attention, remember, reason and decide.
Human-computer interaction (HCI)
Studies how we use computers and how to design them to fit our abilities.
Futures studies
Explores possible and desirable futures to decide better today, without claiming to predict.
Services marketing
Studies what makes services distinctive and how they are managed and delivered.
Anthropology
Studies how people live, think and organize themselves within their culture.
Ergonomics and human factors
Studies how people fit with what they use: the body, the mind and how work is organized.
Design studies
Studies design itself: what it is, how designers think and what kind of knowledge they produce.