Dan Mall: Defining Good Design

Inclusive and universal design have gained wider attention and practice in recent years. Its goals are grounded in the belief that recognizing, problem solving for, and learning from excluded groups, yields universal benefits for all. However, these ideals can come into conflict with other desires or imperatives presented by stakeholders, such as speed or cost-savings. It can also be challenging for designers themselves to fully understand or embrace the needs of people who are different from them, even when they want to do so. How do we reconcile these tensions to push the needle of equality further? In this episode, we are speaking with Dan Mall, who quotes friend and founding principal of User Interface Engineering, Jared Spool, to offer a useful definition: “Design is the rendering of intent.” Dan further expounds on this idea by reflecting on his own schools of thought, personal experience, and hopes for the design field. Dan is CEO of SuperFriendly, a design collaborative that aims to both teach and build design systems and products for their client base.