Database design can also be considered as a part of the architecture of the application that uses an external database to persist data. A thoughtfully-designed database that is optimally normalized (normalization is a concept that we will learn later in this chapter) complements the system's architecture. In previous chapters, we learnt that each application demands its own unique application architecture. The same goes for database design too, where we design the schema to suit an application's unique requirements. What worked in one application's database design might not work in another.

Before going ahead with the actual database architecture and design, we need to create a plan for the database.