Information architecture is important to design because it provides the structural underpinning that makes clarity possible. Without thinking about structure, designers can make missteps that lead to things that look good, but aren’t actually good.

"What Is Design, Now" is a series of no-nonsense primers defining and describing a breadth of contemporary design fundamentals. Written by faculty and friends of the MFA in Products of Design department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, the series attempts to demystify and make more accessible the essential toolkit and vocabulary of current design pursuits. Check back often for new additions to the series.

It's not as difficult as it may seem to build functional prototypes of high-tech product designs, once you learn basic electronics and microcontroller prototyping. It’s like sketching, but with hardware. Every product designer should learn a bit of circuit design, wiring, soldering, and programming in order to better understand the increasingly connected devices in our lives.