Designs on inspired brands from Sekforde.

There are many different perspectives on what design really means. Saul Bass opined that it was "thinking made visual", while Jon Hicks (with his tongue firmly in his cheek) assures us that it's "just making things line up".

There are a million conflicting opinions on what design should - and actually does - mean, but it's important to remember the old principle that form follows function. For a company that whole-heartedly embraces skeuomorphism in their interface design Apple wouldn't seem to be first on the list as champions of this edict, but Steve Jobs is clearly acutely aware of how important it is:

"Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like… People think it's this veneer -- that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

That simple proposition comes across in the products that Cupertino build, no doubt in part due to Jonathan Ive's debt to the the 'Less is More' ethos of Dieter Rams. It's the true divider between good and bad design - and while bad design will always stand out a mile, it's the really good design that sometimes slips through without recognition.

When a designer has done their job properly then the user won't ever be aware of all the problems that have been solved along the way. They will simply enjoy an experience that helps them achieve what they're trying to do, and offers a helping hand when necessary.

The interface of Gmail isn't particularly handsome. There are no drop shadows, or pseudo paper textures, or three-dimensional icons with glimmering highlights. Instead, there's just a simple window that let's you read and write emails. Arguably it has failed from a design perspective, as there's a minimal layout with only a few boxes to type in and nothing that makes the pixels 'pop'. But when you write an email, and include the phrase 'I've attached' somewhere in the text, and then don't add an attachment it picks you up on it when you try to send the message. Just a plain old dialogue box, asking if you've forgotten something.

That's design.