I am working on a system design with some others and we are on to some cool things because we have chose some interesting design constraints that are creating a different user experience.

Some data centers designs have had very little constraints as they had plenty of budget and time. Yet, some of the most interesting designs are when constraints are made that force the team to be more creative.

For an idea of what is meant consider this blog post.

For a lot of designers constraints are kryptonite or a barbed wire fence that is a prison for their design freedom. But design constraints shouldn’t be viewed as problems to be overcome, rather, constraints or restrictions are probably the best tool for creativity.Constraints are good: they give you direction and they challenge you to be better. Constraints force you to try new things and to experiment more.

Victor Hugo said “Necessity is the mother of all invention” and he is right, we invent stuff to solve problems. Invention and creativity go hand in hand, without creativity nothing would be invented. In design, constraints create necessity and their sole purpose is to challenge our very creativity and make us examine design in different ways.