Most people think of architecture as just a part of putting up a heavy building. I learned that it’s not at all about that.
1. Adaptability. Think about how your users are working with it rather than how you imagined it and iterate based on those insights. The open plan has revolutionized the architectural world and gave back the freedom of changing spaces according to user needs. Agile and lean are following a similar path.
2. Users come first. You are taking someone’s time and/or space and modeling it. Better be worth it or they will hate it and dump it right away.
3. Interpretation. Don’t try to build a massive violin, think about what the violin means and find a way to show that. Think about interactions. You are playing in 4 dimensions, with natural and artificial light, color and proportion to influence perception over time. Think about how people will feel and function while they are in touch with this reality. Great buildings and products show the value of simple things by creating experiences. Interpretation is a basis of this subtilty.
4. Why would I care about it? The question that you need to be able to answer right away and that should drive your concept. What’s the value? How does it impact my life? Whether it’s a park somewhere in a busy neighborhood, a new pedestrian crossing over a crowded street or a social center it needs to answer that question. The same applies for digital products. It’s a world that is being created by people for other people and it needs to hold value, otherwise, it will die.
5. How does it make me feel about myself? Why do people pay money to go to a beautiful concert hall? To live in a nice neighborhood? Why would they post on social media or keep track of their progress in a fitness app? Because it is about their image of themselves, the way they feel. The closer they get to that ideal self that they have created the better they feel they are. What can you provide through your product to improve that?
6. Take multiple things into consideration at the same time, while iterating and building. Architecture is meant to keep track of user comfort, safety regulations, urban planning regulations, structural requirements, social and economic impact on both the beneficiary and the end users as well as the overall look and feel of the site. And so does a product. Is it a native app, is it a hybrid, how often are your iteration cycles, how do you monetize, how do users get to know it, can they use it according to their changing needs, how long does it take to roll it out, have you tested every scenario, does it look and feel sleek?
7. Anticipation. Think about what your users will do, how they will feel, what their peak experience will be. Build on that. Create the identity based on your user touchpoints — it can be the purchase of a product or discovering an amazing view framed through architecture. Build your identity on it.
8. Behavioral patterns. They are the core of a great architectural design and their importance is being emphasized in digital products at the moment. Does it make perfect sense to tap on that button, read a text or to go in a certain direction to find an office, a bathroom or a yard? Architecture is based on respecting some of them and creating new ones.
10. Delightful interactions. It can be a light that uncovers a wall pattern, the copper taps against a gray wall or an unexpected animation placed at the perfect moment that make your experience so much better.
Architects are creating a 4d user experience and call it architectural design. Most of the valuable architectural creations are not the more expensive ones, they are the ones that improve our lives.
So many people designing now are turning towards old architecture principles — such as letting your main activity dictate the way everything presents itself for ease of understanding and use. Beauty comes from building over this structure, as a layer set on top of it.
A building is a place that adapts to your needs without too much hassle. It takes care of your orientation, your mood, your safety, houses all your activities without you thinking about it. It does not impose its identity on the user, but rather lets the user dictate its identity. It becomes not only defined by spatial constraints, but defined by evolution and social requirements. It changes.
It is also what makes a product great in general. You can see what it is about and use it without facing any issues. It adapts to your needs, grows with you and makes your life easier.
It makes sense to look for deeper connections between architecture and digital design, the utopias that we had and why they didn’t work. There is so much to learn from a discipline that has been shaping people’s environments for so long and that has learned how to adapt and create for their needs.
