( CNN ) -- When I was young , my teachers praised me for being good at math and art , but my father would always tell people , `` You know , John is good at math . '' At the time I felt I had to choose between the two -- and with my parents ' influence winning over my own , I went to MIT . After many years there , I learned about computers on many levels . In doing so , I saw technology succeeding each year in making everything cheaper , faster , and smaller -- but failing to create any emotional connection or to bring any meaning to our lives . Design has picked up significant momentum with the success of design-led companies like Apple and Airbnb , but the exact meaning of design and how it is applied is often something of a mystery . Educated as a computer scientist , my bias is to believe in what can be quantified , and so I understand how confusing `` getting '' design can be . Qualitatively speaking , however , something designed superbly tends to look and feel better than something designed poorly . Or , said another way : Something designed superbly tends to look and feel `` different '' than something designed poorly . It is whether the difference `` works '' or not that determines good design versus bad design . We encounter design , good and bad , with everything we see , touch , and use . It 's invisible to most people because it 's everywhere -- much like the proverbial fish that does n't know where to find water . TED.com : John Maeda on his journey in design . One simple way to become aware of graphic design is to try not to ignore the font , or typeface , being used -- which does a lot more than just make a word readable . A slight change in line weight can make the word `` heavy '' seem `` heavier . '' Formal appears more formal when set in italics . And `` far '' does appear a bit far ... ... ... ... ... ... ..away when a little distance gets added into the visual equation . Design is a way of adding enough visual , tactile , spatial , audio , textural or temporal inflection so as to make the ordinary feel different -- with the goal of making that difference a meaningful one . In the early 1990s , my work focused on combining the rigid vocabulary of computer programming with the playful possibilities of art and design . I created a series of interactive works in the C computer language called `` reactive graphics . '' TED.com : David Kelley on human-centered design . My intent was to show that the computer could be more than a cold , clinical object ; it could do things that delighted us . Though that work is now credited with helping to launch the interactive graphics movement on the Web , at the time it was marginalized by traditional print designers . Yet I believe that taking principles from one domain and applying them to a new context -- in this case mixing traditional visual aesthetics with advanced computation and algorithms -- is where the practice of design tends to make its biggest marks . Today , the relevance of design is expanding far beyond visual aesthetics -- to everything from tackling global issues such as climate change , to making sense of the overwhelming amount of data that surrounds us . Designers have the unique ability to make information , products and experiences both simpler and richer all at once . TED.com : Designing objects that tell stories . Recently I have been thinking that , just as design and technology combined to make the rich creative space that is digital media today , design and technology together will now begin to help leaders navigate their competing priorities , solve complex problems , and nurture fragmented relationships . As organizations shift from neatly ordered hierarchies to chaotic , flattened `` heterarchies , '' where anyone can `` friend the CEO , '' a new generation of tools will be invented that will allow design and technology to enable leaders to make true connections among people and inspire change . Just as design enabled us to have an emotional connection with a piece of glass and aluminum that lives in our pocket , design and technology together will restore some of the humanity in what it means to lead in the 21st century . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Maeda .
John Maeda : Something designed superbly looks and feels different . Much of the time , we tend not to notice good design , he says . Designers can make things simpler and richer at same time , Maeda says . Maeda : Design can redefine leadership in age when everyone can friend the CEO .