Most people do not really think about design and designers, let alone think of themselves as designers. But what, if anything, can regular people — teachers, students, business people of all types — learn from designers and from thinking like a designer? And what of more specialized professions? Can medical doctors, scientists, researchers, and engineers, and other specialists in technical fields benefit in anyway by learning how a graphic designer or interaction designer thinks? Is there something designers, either through their training or experience, know that we don’t? I believe there is.
大多数人都不会认真思考设计和设计师，更别说像设计师一样思考。不过，普通人——各种各样的老师、学生和商人能从设计师那里学到什么，从设计师式的思维中学到什么呢？而且从更专业的职业中又能学到什么？医药博士、科学家、研究者、工程师和技术领域里的其他专家能否从图形设计师或交互设计师的思维方式中受益？有没有设计师通过训练或经验得知而我们却不知道的东西？我相信有。
Below are 10 things (plus a bonus tip) that I have learned over the years from designers, things that designers do or know that the rest of us can benefit from. When I speak around the world I often put up a slide that asks people to make as many sentences as they can beginning with the word “Designers….” The goal of this activity is to get people thinking about thinking about design, something most of us never do (it also gets people in the audience talking, loosening up a bit; always a good thing). The sentences they generate range from “Designers wear black” to “Designers use creativity and analysis to solve problems” to “Designers make things beautiful,” and so on.
以下是历年来我向设计师学来的10件事（外加一个优惠秘诀），是设计师所做或所了解的事情，我们其他人都可从中受益。当我在全球各地演讲时，通常都会播放一个幻灯，让人们尽量用“设计师”开头造句。这项活动的目的是让人们就“思考设计”而思考，这是我们大多数人从未做过的事情（这也会促使听众开口说话，略微放松；反正是件好事）。大家造的句子应有尽有——从“设计师穿黑色”，“设计师用创造力和分析解决问题”，到“设计师美化事物”。
These ten are broad and even a bit philosophical. Regardless of your profession, I hope there is an item or two that you can apply to your own work.
这十件事覆盖面很广，甚至还颇具哲理性。不论您从事何种职业，我希望有那么一两条您能用于自己的工作中。
(1) Embrace constrains. Constraints and limitations are wonderful allies and lead to enhanced creativity and ingenious solutions that without constrains never would have been discovered or created. In the words of T.S. Eliot, “Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl.” There’s no point complaining about constraints such as time, money, tools, etc. Your problem is what it is. How can you solve it given the resources and time that you have?
(1) 拥抱限制。限制和局限是最佳同盟，会引领出没有限制就绝对无法发现可提升的创造力和独创的解决方法。用T.S.艾略特的话说，“如果工作全然自由，那么就难以进展了。”抱怨时间、资金、工具等限制没有意义。问题还是问题。你如何用现有的资源和时间解决问题？
(2) Practice restraint. Any fool can be complicated and add more, it takes discipline of mind and strength of will to make the hard choices about what to include and what to exclude. The genius is often in what you omit or leave on the editing room floor.
(2) 练习限制。任何傻瓜都可以很复杂，也可以添加更多东西，决定包括什么、排除什么是需要思维纪律和意志力的，这是非常困难的决定。才能通常隐含在你忽视或摒弃的东西中。
(3) Adopt the beginner’s mind. As the old saying goes, in the expert’s mind there are few possibilities, but for one with the beginner’s mind, the world is wide open. Designers understand the need to take risks, especially during early explorations of the problem. They are not afraid to break with convention. Good designers are open minded and comfortable with ambiguity early on in the process, this is how discoveries are made.
(3) 采用新手的思维。老话说，在专家的头脑里，可能性微乎其微，但在新手头脑中，世界彻底开放。设计师理解冒险的需求，尤其是在问题的早期探索中。他们不惧怕打破常规。优秀的设计师思想开放，对于早期出现的模棱两可泰然自若，而这正是进行发现探索的方法。
(4) Check your ego at the door. This is not about you, it’s about them (your audience, customer, patient, student, etc.). Look at the problem from their point of view — put yourself in their shoes. This is not easy, it takes great amounts of empathy. Get in touch with your empathetic side. Empathy — an under valued “soft skill,” can be a great differentiator and is key for truly understanding a problem.
(4) 感同身受。这不是说你，而是说他们（你的观众、客户、病人、学生等等）。从他们的角度看问题——设身处地为他们考虑。这不容易，需要你切实地感同身受。与你将移入情感的对象保持联系。移情——一种被低估了的“软技能”，其实它可以形成很大区别，是真正理解问题的关键。
(5) Focus on the experience of the design. It’s not the thing, it’s the experience of the thing. This is related to #4 above: Put yourself in their shoes. How do people interact with your solution? Remember that much of design has an emotional component, sometimes this is even the largest component (though users may be unaware of this). Do not neglect the emotional aspect of your solutions.
(5) 注重设计体验。不是东西本身，而是东西的体验。这与上面第四条相关：设身处地为他们着想。人们与你的解决方案交互得如何？记住，设计有很大程度都有情感因素，有时，这甚至是最大的元素（尽管用户可能意识不到）。不要忽略设计方案的情感方面。
(6) Become a master storyteller. Often it’s not only the design — i.e., the solution to a problem — that is important, but the story of it. This is related to #5 above. What’s the meaning of the solution? Practice illustrating the significance of solutions both verbally and visually. Start with the general, zoom in to the detail, pull out again to remind us of the theme or key concept, then zoom back in to illuminate more of the detail.
(6) 成为出色的讲故事者。通常，不仅关乎设计——即问题的解决方案——当然，这个很重要，但也关乎设计背后的故事。这与第五条相关。解决方案的含义何在？练习用语言和视觉两种方法说明解决方案的意义。从整体开始，然后将距离拉近到细节上，再拉回来，可以提醒我们核心概念的主题，然后再拉近看清楚更多细节。
(7) Think communication not decoration. Design — even graphic design — is not about beautification. Design is not just about aesthetics, though aesthetics are important. More than anything, design is about solving problems or making the current situation a little better than before. Design is not art, though there is art in design.
(7) 旨在沟通，而非装饰。设计——哪怕是图形设计——也不尽是美化。设计不单是美学，虽然美学很重要。最重要的是，设计是解决问题，或让当前情况有所改善。设计不是艺术，虽然设计包含了艺术。
(8) Obsess about ideas not tools. Tools are important and necessary, but they come and go as better tools come along. Obsess instead about ideas. Though most tools are ephemeral, some of your best tools are a simple pencil and sketch pad. These are often the most useful — especially in the early stages of thinking — because they are the most direct. Good advice is to go analog in the beginning with the simplest tools possible.
(8) 关注想法而非工具。工具很重要也很必要，但好工具层出不穷。要对思考着迷，别对工具着迷。大多数工具都是暂时时兴的，其实最好的工具还是铅笔和草稿本。这些通常都最有用——尤其是在想法的初期阶段——因为它们最直接。有条忠告是尽量用最简单的工具去模拟出自己的想法。
(9) Clarify your intention. Design is about choices and intentions, it is not accidental. Design is about process. The end user will usually not notice “the design of it.” It may seem like it just works, assuming they think about it at all, but this ease-of-use (or ease-of-understanding) is not by accident, it’s a result of your careful choices and decisions.
(9) 阐明你的意图。设计关乎选择和意图，它不是偶然的产物。设计关乎处理过程。普通用户通常不会注意到“它的设计”。就算他们会考虑设计，也顶多是觉得这设计还行，但这种便于使用（或者便于理解）绝非偶然，那是你深思熟虑选择和决策的结果。
(10) Sharpen your vision & curiosity and learn from the lessons around you. Good designers are skilled at noticing and observing. They are able to see both the big picture and the details of the world around them. Humans are natural pattern seekers; be mindful of this skill in yourself and in others. Design is a “whole brain” process. You are creative, practical, rational, analytic, empathetic, and passionate. Foster these aptitudes.
(10) 磨砺你的眼光和求知欲，处处留心皆学问。优秀的设计师善于捕捉观察。他们既能看到周围世界的宏观画面，又能看到细枝末节。人类是自然模型的追求者，对你自己和他人的这种技能要留心。设计是“整个大脑”的进程。你有创造力、实际经验、理性、分析能力、感同身受的能力、并充满热情。去培养这样的资质。
(11) Learn all the “rules” and know when and why to break them. Over the centuries, those who came before us have established useful and necessary guidelines — these are often called rules or laws and it’s important to know them. Yet, unlike other kinds of laws, it may be acceptable to break them at times so long as you know why. Basic graphic design principles and rules are important and useful to know, yet most professionals today have a hole in their education when it comes to the fundamentals of graphic design. I’ll try to do my little bit with the next book to raise the design mindfulness and vocabulary of professionals who do not make a living in design per se, but who have a desire to get better.
(11) 学习以上所有“规则”，了解何时可以打破规则，以及为什么打破它们。在过去数个世纪，我们的先人已经建立了有用而必要的指南——通常称之为规则或法律，了解这些非常重要。然而，规则不像法律不可侵犯，只要你理由充足，你尽可以打破它们。基本图形设计的原则和规则很重要，了解它们很有用，可如今大多数专业设计师在图形设计基础教育上都有漏洞。我争取在下一本书中提出自己的观点，为那些虽不靠设计吃饭但想做好设计的专业人士强化针对设计的专注力并扩充词汇量。
This is not an exhaustive list (in fact, I started with about 25 items); there are many other things designers can teach us (and not only graphic designers as well). What is missing from this list? What would you add? Love to hear your ideas.
这份清单并不详尽（其实，开始的时候我列了25项），设计师可以教给我们的还有很多（而且也不仅仅限于图形设计师）。这份清单还缺什么？你会添什么？盼望听到你的想法。
