In a world obsessed with outcomes, design invites us to reimagine the process. Design isn’t about making things functional,it’s about making them human. As someone trained as an engineer but shaped by books, I’ve come to see design as a way of being. The books that have guided me are not manuals, but mirrors. They reflect who we are, and who we might become.
At the heart of this journey is Ge Wang’s Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime. Unlike any other book on design – part manifesto, part comic book, part philosophical meditation – Wang, a computer music professor and creator of the ChucK programming language, poses a profound question: What kind of world are we designing and why?
He urges us to examine the values behind our design choices. One memorable section captures the book’s essence: “Design is the human capacity to shape our world.” It compels us to shift from solving problems to asking better questions.
If Artful Design is the compass pointing us toward a more meaningful future, then Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things is the map. First published in the 1980s, it remains startlingly relevant. Norman democratised design by showing us that everyone is a designer. Whether we’re arranging furniture, writing code, or leading teams.
As the father of a disabled child, I often find that many products aren’t designed for the outlier. A well-designed product includes the marginalised, often the most vulnerable. Another essential voice is John Maeda. His slim but powerful book, The Laws of Simplicity, distils the complexity of design into 10 accessible laws. Drawing from his background in both engineering and art, Maeda explores how simplicity is about finding clarity.
His call to ‘subtract the obvious and add the meaningful’ is a principle I return to often, whether I’m building a presentation, curating an event, managing a team, or simply navigating life. Books like Change by Design by Tim Brown and Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley bring design thinking from the studio to the boardroom. They remind us that innovation is not the domain of the lone genius but a collaborative journey rooted in empathy, prototyping, and storytelling.
I’ve found that the best designers aren’t those with the flashiest portfolios, but those who listen deeply and design with care. For a more philosophical lens, I often turn to Designing Design by Kenya Hara. The Japanese designer, best known for his work with Muji, speaks of emptiness as potential. Hara’s writing is a quiet, deliberate act of resistance, inviting us to see beauty in restraint and meaning in minimalism.
In India, we’re witnessing a quiet revolution. The emergence of design-led thinking is both exciting and essential. But we must resist the urge to import templates wholesale. Our design solutions must be rooted in context. In language, culture, and community. Books like Artful Design remind us that design is not about standardisation, but about soul.
What ties all these works together is not a common method, but a shared ethos: a belief that design is not just about things, but about people. It’s about aligning form with purpose, aesthetics with ethics, and utility with joy. I often tell youngsters: don’t read these books to become a better designer. Read them to become a more aware human being. Because in the end, good design isn’t about changing the world. Instead, it’s about changing the way we see the world. And that, perhaps, is enough.
(The writer’s views are personal)