Did you know that up until the 19th century, most products sold in the UK didn’t feature any fancy packaging or designs? Instead, they simply displayed the name of the product e.g. ‘flour’ or ‘sugar’ etc.

Today, it’s hard for us to imagine products without their brand logos and visuals. For instance, can you imagine McDonald’s without the two golden arches or IKEA without its simple font?

This is the power of a good design, and it goes far beyond making things look pretty or just functional. Good designs can also be empowering, inspiring and uplifting; they can change the way you interpret the world around you.

Good designs are everywhere and they make your life more enjoyable. Read on to find out the different ways in which you are influenced by impactful designs in your life, and how you can come up with your share of inspiring designs.

How do good designs impact our lives?

A great design is more than just bright colours and stunning visuals; It’s the ultimate combination of human psychology, art, technology, culture and business. Today, good designs are essential tools for brands to fulfil customer expectations and communicate their message. Let’s delve into the different ways in which organisations use game-changing designs to capture your attention.

Great designs help you feel a sense of familiarity in an uncertain world

With markets blowing up with hundreds and thousands of similar products, it often gets overwhelming to make a choice, even regarding smaller items like a soap bar or shampoo. We might visit a shop to pick up a simple bar of soap, and then realise there are dozens of other options on the shelf.

Simple designs cut through the noise by reassuring you of their quality and allowing you to connect with the product. The familiar black font of Pantene or the green circle over the ‘G’ of Garnier, are great designs because they strike a chord of familiarity with you.

Logos aren’t the only things when we talk about good designs. The classic clean lines and practicality of IKEA furniture is synonymous with the brand which makes their furnishings identifiable - even without tags.

Excellent designs make your job easier

Great designs should not only be familiar, they should also make your life easier, even if they are simple. In fact, fancy designs can hamper the practicality of the product in many cases.

For example, consider highway signs – they feature solid backgrounds with large block letters and arrows that are easily visible from your car when you are driving towards them at a speed of 80 km/h. Take the same design and replace it with elegant cursive fonts with bright backgrounds - you might have many accidents from drivers having to slow down abruptly to read the signs!

Great designs are memorable

Great designs are not only reassuring, but they are also often imprinted in our minds and impossible to forget even if we want to. Tower Bridge and Big Ben in London are examples of great architectural designs that are unforgettable.

In our world of technology, the sleek contours and the half-eaten Apple logo on a laptop allow you to immediately recognise the manufacturer.

With the prevalence of multiple smartphones and electronic gadgets, designers are also working on the practicality and looks of these items to give you a seamless experience. For instance, the simplicity and flexibility of an iPad are popular with customers and command a huge chunk of the market.

The best part? Great designs can also motivate you and future generations. For example, the mini skirt, invented by a British designer in 1960s London still influences fashion trends over half a century later.

Whether or not you’re aware of it, your decisions are influenced by good designs in every aspect of your life - from choosing a shampoo to your house. Good designs have guided and inspired us in the past and will continue to be a significant part of our lives. If you are artistically inclined or want to leave great designs as your legacy, you should consider pursuing Graphic Design courses.

The London College of Contemporary Arts (LCCA) offers the BA (Hons) Graphic Design programme with a foundation year in Arts and Design which can help you learn how to transform your grand ideas into impactful designs.

The four-year Graphic Design degree will allow you to use top-of-the-range software, gain typography techniques and understand combination styles of colours and shapes used in the industry. This Graphic Designer course is awarded by the TEF Gold Institute of international repute, the University for the Creative Arts. Click here to get a comprehensive overview of the BA Graphic Design course at LCCA.