As mentioned before, great architecture is something that appeals to everyone – it looks like different styles and levels of design depending on who you are looking at it. This makes it very difficult to tell if someone’s architectural style is good or bad unless you have personal knowledge of their work.

That being said, there are some universal qualities that all well designed architectures share. If you look at many popular buildings and monuments, you will see that they are well constructed and use appropriate materials. These materials include glass, steel, concrete, and timber among others.

These types of material are strong and durable, which is important when designing software systems that require long lifespans. Materials such as these also seem to fit the setting of the building/software naturally, creating an aesthetically pleasing space.

Software architects should be aware of how using these materials can help influence the perception of users towards their product.

This article will talk about some helpful tips and tricks to develop your own architectural style. It will focus more on technical ways to improve the quality of your designs while keeping them relevant and intuitive.

Disclaimer!

The author of this article does not claim to be an expert in either artistic or technological domains, nor does she intend to take credit for anyone else's hardwork. She simply loves studying both fields and sharing her findings with other people.

Consider the impact of your design

The first rule in software architecture is that you must consider the effect of your decisions before making them. If you are not thinking about how what you plan to do will affect other people, then you should reconsider your approach.

As an architect, you will be designing spaces and environments for use by different groups of people at all levels – from individual users to senior management. These individuals will come with their own needs and expectations, and they may go over very limited resources or features.

If there are limitations on functionality, memory, bandwidth, etc., then these things can have significant impacts on the way someone uses the product.

Software often comes with defaults and settings that limit user freedom, so it is important to think about whether those limits are necessary and worth the cost to users.

Connect with your clients

As an architect, it is important that you connect with your customers or users of your designs. You should actively listen to their needs and ask about how projects are going for them.

This way, you can ensure the success of their project by informing yourself of what features they wanted and needed and then designing towards those.

It also helps promote your department as professionals who know what they’re doing!

Furthermore, talking to different people in the company will help you understand the roles your design team fits into within the bigger picture.

You may find some departments have limited knowledge about other parts of the business, so learning more about how decisions get made can be helpful.

Architects must also be aware of any internal politics happening at the organization so that they don’t get involved.

By being aware of these things, architects can prevent bad relationships from forming and possibly destroying their own career path.

Meet with potential investors

Before you even begin your design process, meet with potential investors! This will save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. If they like what they see, then great; if not, you can move onto the next project.

Most well-known startups have an investor round or two before going public or being bought by another company. Even if you’re not looking to be acquired right now, investing early will give you resources for your business and help you grow.

There are many ways to approach meeting with potential investors, but make sure to keep it professional and fun. Try having a conversation at a bar or restaurant where most people doesn’t look too formal.

Also, don’t pitch them if you're not completely ready.

Pay attention to little details

Little things make a big difference. If you are looking to improve your design skills, then pay special attention to little details such as windows, doors, or other openings in your architecture.

Software is built upon many layers that work together to create an experience for users. Windows and doors are part of this layer — they provide an interactive interface between you (the user) and something else.

For example, when you open Google Chrome, you see the browser window, a drop-down menu, and a button that says “New Tab”. These features collaborate to create an experience where you can access new pages directly from the browser.

The way these parts interact with each other is important to how well the whole thing works. For instance, if there was no door at the top of the browser window, you would not be able to access the additional menus and buttons.

Create a team

As we have discussed, creating an effective software architecture is more than just having a good eye for space and shape. It also comes down to hiring the right people with the right skills.

As you know by now, not everyone fits into your ideal architectural framework. This can be difficult as there are very few hard and fast rules when it comes to developing software.

It’s important to remember that engineers and programmers make up the majority of our workforce today. Therefore, if you’re looking to launch a successful project, you need to ensure that you have enough engineering talent on board.

But what about those architects who don’t necessarily fit in the engineering or programming box? What happens to they when their work gets done?

In this article, we will talk about how to design software architectures for them! We will look at some easy ways to develop their skill set so they can keep doing their thing.

Think about the technology

Technology is integral to how architecture works. If you are designing an open-world RPG, then technology will play a big part in what kind of games you can create.

If your design calls for using lasers, then that tech must be integrated into the game.

Software architects use technology to make sure the right features keep flowing in the game!

They also look at which technologies are no longer needed, and find ways to get rid of them by creating alternatives or finding other uses for them.

For example, when 3D gaming became popular, many software companies made 2D apps to capitalize on all that new hardware power.

Challenge your assumptions

The first step in designing software is to challenge your own assumptions about what features of the software should exist and what they should look like. What are the built-up expectations of users?

As designers, we spend a lot of time thinking about how things should look and feel. But our initial ideas of what elements of a product would be needed or wanted are sometimes influenced by past experiences with similar products.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to design concepts, so take this advice from someone who has been there!

There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorite strategies is to conduct interviews. Ask people if you can test out your idea on them, and see whether they would use it.

This was something I did while I was creating My Book Journal — I asked friends and colleagues whether they thought such an app already existed.

By asking directly, I learned that most people didn’t believe such apps even possible, which helped me validate my concept.

Design for scalability

Scalable software is something that has gone up in popularity over the past few years. It can be tricky to design architecture for scalable software, however.

Software that is considered highly scalable usually comes with a very expensive price tag. These are typically paid by users of the product — not necessarily a good thing if you want your software to be popular!

There are some things, though, that almost every scale-friendly software out there will have in common. They’ll be built using off the shelf components that work well together, they’ll use modular programming languages and architectures like Python or JavaScript, and they’ll rely heavily on internet-based resources and services to function properly.

Take a look at Google as an example. The company grows rapidly but it doesn’t grow too quickly or need lots of resources, so their internal structure is pretty lean and efficient.

You don’t have to be a business leader to apply these concepts to your own projects, either. As a developer, you can start thinking about ways to improve how efficiently you develop software by looking into what makes large-scale developers successful.

Designing smartly scalable software isn’t easy, but it’s definitely doable when you take the time to think about it.