design

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Creation of an advertising campaign including any one of the individual elements, such as the illustrations, the package details, or the visual symbols, or all of the elements in the plan, as well as the plan itself.

verb

1. To form a strategy for: blueprint, cast, chart, conceive, contrive, devise, formulate, frame, lay, plan, project, scheme, strategize, work out. Informal dope out. Idioms: lay plans. See planned/unplanned.
2. To work out and arrange the parts or details of: blueprint, lay out, map (out), plan, set out. See planned/unplanned.
3. To have in mind as a goal or purpose: aim, contemplate, intend, mean, plan, project, propose, purpose, target. Regional mind. See planned/unplanned, purpose/purposelessness.

noun

1. An element or a component in a decorative composition: device, figure, motif, motive, pattern. See part/whole.
2. A method for making, doing, or accomplishing something: blueprint, game plan, idea, layout, plan, project, schema, scheme, strategy. See planned/unplanned.
3. What one intends to do or achieve: aim, ambition, end, goal, intent, intention, mark, meaning, object, objective, point, purpose, target, view, why. Idioms: end in view, why and wherefore. See planned/unplanned, purpose/purposelessness.

Definition: plan, outline
Antonyms: disorder, disorganize

1. To compose a plan for a building.
2. The architectural concept of a building as represented by plans, elevations, renderings, and other drawings.
3. Any visual concept of a man-made object, as of a work of art or a machine.

Dance is a visual artform and the design of the stage and of the dancers' costumes naturally plays a major role in establishing the style and tone of any work. Narrative works may depend heavily on scenery and costumes to identify the characters and the action, a plotless ballet may take its mood from an abstract set, lighting, backdrop, or costumes. In any work, what the dancers wear will influence greatly how we look at their movement.

In the court ballets of the 15th-17th centuries artists, architects, and artisans were employed as stage designers. These ballets were often elaborate spectacles, intended to display the status of the nobility or monarchs who had commissioned them. Scenery often involved complex stage machinery designed to create magical effects while the dancers' costumes, often fantastical versions of court dress, were extremely opulent, involving highly ornamented clothes and huge wigs. When dance moved onto the stage, specialist theatre designers began to emerge and by the early 19th century some regarded themselves as poets of the theatre. As the highly formalized classical settings of the 18th century gave way to Romanticism, designers created mysterious moonlit forests for sylphs and wilis to inhabit or colourful exotic settings for gypsies and adventuresses. The invention of gas lighting made it possible to create evocative shadows, to suggest woodland glades or starry nights through which dancers flew using flying wires and harnesses. At the same time the dancers' costumes became much simpler. Ornamental wigs were out of fashion, the women's dresses featured shorter, more light-weight skirts. The men no longer wore the stiff skirt or tonnelet of the 18th century but simple tights, trunks, and tunics which gave them more freedom to move. Costumes aimed to reflect the ballet's dramatic setting, for example drifting white skirts for sylphs or versions of national or peasant costume for exotic ballets.

Towards the middle and end of the 19th century taste shifted back towards more ornamental design. Extravagantly detailed scenery reflected the period's love of spectacle, with ballets taking place in rajahs' palaces, temples, or even on storm-tossed seas. The dancers retained freedom of movement in their costumes, with the women's skirts gradually shortened to form the first version of the now familiar tutu, but authenticity was not considered essential. Ballerinas wore tutus whatever the historical or geographical setting of their role, and frequently adorned themselves with their personal jewellery. When Fokine started crusading for artistic reform in ballet (from 1904) one of his concerns was that design should more faithfully reflect subject-matter. In his own ancient Greek ballet Eunice (1907) he fought, unsuccessfully, for his dancers to perform bare-legged and with bare feet. (The Imperial Theatre's management forced him to put his dancers in flesh-coloured tights with knees and toes painted on.) But once Fokine had joined Diaghilev (who shared his belief in ballet as fully integrated theatre) he was allowed to pursue his vision of a new realism, and easel painters like Benois, Bakst, and Golovine were commissioned to create carefully researched but poetic settings for ballets like Petrushka, Scheherazade, and The Firebird. Some of these painters also began to experiment with colour and pattern as a means of defining a mood or style, such as Bakst's dappled stage canvas for Nijinsky's L' Après-midi d'un faune (1912). When the Ballets Russes entered its more radically modernist phase Diaghilev began to commission avant-garde painters whose designs brought new aesthetics from the art world onto the stage—Cubism, Fauvism, and Surrealism—sometimes even dominating the ballet, as in Picasso's Cubist ballet Parade (1917). Design by modernist painters also determined the look of many works performed by Les Ballets Suédois (1920-5) and influenced the aesthetic of choreographer Oskar Schlemmer who, aiming for a purely abstract form of dance, clothed his dancers in sculpted costumes that virtually concealed their human form. By contrast as Balanchine pursued his own version of neo-classical purity he often stripped his stages down to a bare minimum, in ballets like The Four Temperaments (revised version, 1951) and Agon (1957) putting his dancers in practice costumes on an empty stage so that the choreography would be free of visual distraction. In modern dance Graham began by working on bare stages and with her dancers wearing simple jersey dresses which revealed the uncompromising bluntness of the choreography's lines. When she began to use sets she frequently worked with the sculptor Noguchi whose free-standing sets amplified the symbolism and setting of the piece as well as providing a physical architecture on and around which the dancers could move. Cunningham, by contrast, frequently collaborated with artists whose designs were created separately from the choreography and thus had a more contingent relationship with the dance, for example Andy Warhol's helium-filled balloons which bobbed unpredictably through RainForest (1968), or Jasper Johns' free-standing set for Walkaround Time (1968) which squeezed the dancers into sometimes confined spaces. Such designs did not aim to define meanings within the choreography but to create an independent visual place within which the dance moved. Many of Cunningham's works have also been shown on bare stages and he has tended to clothe his dancers in unitards so that their movement can be plainly seen.

During the second half of the 20th century, building materials and stage machinery have become increasingly sophisticated, making it possible to build more complex sets. In Maria Bjørnson's controversial designs for the Royal Ballet's 1994 production of Sleeping Beauty the scenery was changed with a speed that looked like the closing and opening of a giant's eye and in Act II the cobwebs surrounding the sleeping Aurora magically ripped apart at the Prince's kiss. Realism, surrealism, and abstraction are now considered equal options for any dance designer.

In some dances the set is central to the entire conception and execution of the piece. Japanese choreographer and designer Saburo Teshigawara has created work like Bones in Pages (1991) which takes place in a kind of art installation and with which the choreography is created specifically to interact. DV8's Strange Fish (des. Peter Davison, 1992) had a set constructed with numerous cubbyholes, doors, and footholds which allowed the dancers to make abrupt entrances and exits from all round the stage, as well as a false water tank beneath the floor in which dancers were briefly immersed. Lighting has also become far more sophisticated with the advent of computer-operated systems. Artists like Rosenthal established lighting as a major design force in the 1940s and 1950s, not only cueing day- or night-time and basic mood but also defining the stage space. In Dana Reitz and Sara Rudner's 1993 work Necessary Weather lighting designer Tipton was actually listed as co-choreographer, creating pools and columns of light within and around which the dancers moved, casting them into silhouette or colour that altered the apparent dynamic of the movement.

In the late 20th century almost all costume options were now available to dance from historically realistic costumes to tutus, jeans, designer clothes, and nudity. Most costumes aim to flatter the dancers and give them freedom to move—although many choreographers, such as Yolande Snaith, Michael Clark, and Philippe Decouflé, may also use constricting or distorting costumes for surreal or dramatic effect.

The idea that the natural world exhibits evidence of design is very ancient, finding its first formal expression in the writings of the Greek philosophers. Plato (c. 428–347 B.C.E.) asserted that inert matter is incapable of motion and that movement and change in an orderly cosmos are suggestive of a supreme, superintending mind. His pupil Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) agreed that there is goal-directed activity in nature, but attributed this activity to the inherent tendencies of objects to fulfill their natural ends. These immanent "final causes" are thus suggestive of purpose or "teleology" in nature, but this purpose is nondeliberative and does not call for a divine designer. In the thirteenth century these two strands of argument were woven together by Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1226–1274), who established the position that was to become normative for the later Middle Ages and much of the early modern period. Aquinas adopted the Aristotelian view that natural objects exhibit goal-directed activity, but followed Plato in asserting that such purposefulness in the world has its origin in a creative, intelligent being—now identified as the Christian God.

Design and the New Science

The early modern period witnessed a significant revival of interest in the argument from design. It came to provide an important foundation for natural history and natural philosophy and assumed a central role in theological arguments for God's existence. Many figures prominent in the Scientific Revolution made reference to design in nature, but it was English scientists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who proved most enthusiastic in their endorsement of the idea. Robert Boyle (1627–1691), one of the founders of modern chemistry and a champion of the new mechanical philosophy, argued that no robust explanation of natural phenomena could omit reference to divine purposes. An account of a watch would be incomplete if mention were made only of the mechanical dispositions and motions of the parts without reference to the use that the maker intended the watch to serve. Similar considerations, Boyle insisted, applied in the sphere of nature. The analogy of the divine watchmaker subsequently became a commonplace in both natural theology and natural history, receiving its definitive articulation in William Paley's classic Natural Theology (1802). Given the intimate connection between the new science and the idea of design, it is fitting that the greatest scientist of the period, Isaac Newton (1642–1727), should have included the design argument in a later edition of his masterwork, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687). Here he observed that the beautiful arrangement of the sun, planets, and comets could only have proceeded from the wisdom and power of an intelligent being.

If the earliest works on design had tended to focus on the clockwork of the cosmos, from the eighteenth century attention turned toward the remarkable adaptations or "contrivances" of living things. John Ray (1627–1705), a pioneering taxonomist and natural historian, wrote The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation in 1691, establishing a pattern that other naturalists would follow for the next hundred and fifty years. In this work he listed numerous instances of the adaptations of living things, arguing that they could not have been the products of chance and thus constituted evidence of divine wisdom. While the concept of design was important primarily in the natural sciences, it also came to assume a role in the social sciences. Scottish moral philosopher and political economist Adam Smith (1723–1790) thus saw evidence of design in the propensities with which human beings had been endowed, for the pursuit of individual interests led to unintended social goods.

Design and Natural Theology

In the eighteenth century the notion of design became the prevailing paradigm in both natural history and natural theology. In addition to providing an ordering principle for the study of nature, the idea of design also provided a theological sanction for the new scientific enterprises. In the sphere of natural theology, the design argument all but displaced the other two classical arguments for God's existence—the ontological and cosmological arguments. These came to be regarded as abstract and logically complex. Unlike the design argument, they were not based on induction and hence did not mesh with the methods of the sciences. The dominant form of natural theology in the eighteenth century thus became known as "physicotheology," a combination of physics (in the broad sense of the study of nature) and theology.

This admixture of natural science and theology was not without its critics. In the seventeenth century both Francis Bacon (1561–1626) and René Descartes (1596–1650) had opposed the incorporation of final causes into scientific explanation—Bacon because he thought that explanation in terms of purposes hindered the quest for physical causes, Descartes because he thought God's purposes were ultimately unknowable. Boyle's arguments in favor of physicotheological explanations were partly intended as a response to Descartes. Subsequently, the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) highlighted fundamental weaknesses in the analogical aspects of the argument from design in his Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, posthumously published in 1779. Hume's arguments did not have a major impact on either popular or scientific audiences, no doubt due to the lack of alternative explanations for the adaptations of living things. Such an alternative had to await the appearance in 1859 of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, which enumerated a number of possible mechanisms for organic adaptation, including natural selection.

Anthropocentrism, Teleology, and Final Causes

There are three common confusions about the idea of design in the early modern period. First is the mistaken view that the design argument is essentially anthropocentric—asserting that all things in nature were designed for human use. In fact most early modern advocates of the design argument readily conceded that certain features of nature had not been designed solely for human use. Second, "teleology" and "design" are commonly regarded as synonymous, but they are not. Aristotle posited teleology without design, and some nineteenth-century zoologists were to propose design without teleology. Third, and related to the previous point, "final causes" may be understood as immanent in natural objects, or as transcendent divine purposes. Final causes in the first sense had many trenchant critics in the early modern period, but most were willing to admit final causes in the second sense. Confusion on this last point contributed to seventeenth-century debates about the propriety of invoking final causes in natural history and natural philosophy.

The prominence of the idea of design in the early modern period is indicative of the mutual support of theology and natural science characteristic of the era. By the same token, it has been argued that the reduction of natural theology to a single set of inductive arguments paradoxically played a role in the emergence of a secular view of nature. So much had been invested in a single physicotheological argument that the triumph of natural selection as an alternative explanation of organic adaptation dealt a telling blow to theological interpretations of nature.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Boyle, Robert. A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things. London, 1688.

Paley, William. Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature. London, 1802.

Ray, John. The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation. London, 1691.

Secondary Sources

Brooke, John Hedley. Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives. Cambridge, U.K., 1991. Chapter 6 explores eighteenth-century links between natural theology and natural history.

Harrison, Peter. The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science. Cambridge, U.K., 1998. Chapter 5 gives an account of the rise to prominence of the notion of design in early modern thought.

Osler, Margaret J. "From Immanent Natures to Nature as Artifice: The Reinterpretation of Final Causes in Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy." The Monist 79 (1996): 388–407. Traces the move away from the Aristotelian understanding of final causes as immanent in nature to the idea of final causes as externally imposed divine purposes.

—PETER HARRISON

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Quotes:

"Designs in connection with postage stamps and coinage may be described, I think, as the silent ambassadors on national taste." - William Butler Yeats

"The complaint about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernize, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances." - Elwyn Brooks White

"Design is not for philosophy -- it's for life." - Issey Miyake

"Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes." - D. H. Lawrence

"Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus." - David Hockney

"Retail is detail." - James Gulliver

See more famous quotes about Design

1. to plan or delineate by drawing the outline of a proposed prosthesis. n 2. the graphical and artistic representation of a plan.

• Strategy and Tactics - design: specific purpose; plans and schemes formed to achieve some purpose
• Order, Hierarchy, and Systems - design: arrangement of elements or details

For the 1970s music group, see Design (UK band).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

All Saints Chapel in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The building structure and decorations are both examples of design.

Design, when applied to fashion, includes considering aesthetics as well as function in the final form.

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawing, business process, circuit diagrams and sewing patterns) while "to design" (verb) refers to making this plan.^[1] No generally-accepted definition of "design" exists,^[2] and the term has different connotations in different fields (see design disciplines below). However, one can also design by directly constructing an object (as in pottery, engineering, management, cowboy coding and graphic design).

More formally design has been defined as follows.

(noun) a specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints;

(verb, transitive) to create a design, in an environment (where the designer operates)^[3]

Another definition for design is a roadmap or a strategic approach for someone to achieve a unique expectation. It defines the specifications, plans, parameters, costs, activities, processes and how and what to do within legal, political, social, environmental, safety and economic constraints in achieving that objective.^[4]

Here, a "specification" can be manifested as either a plan or a finished product, and "primitives" are the elements from which the design object is composed.

With such a broad denotation, there is no universal language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject (see Philosophies and studies of design, below).

The person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used for people who work professionally in one of the various design areas, usually also specifying which area is being dealt with (such as a fashion designer, concept designer or web designer). A designer's sequence of activities is called a design process. The scientific study of design is called design science.^[5][6][7]

Designing often necessitates considering the aesthetic, functional, economic and sociopolitical dimensions of both the design object and design process. It may involve considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.^[8] Meanwhile, diverse kinds of objects may be designed, including clothing, graphical user interfaces, skyscrapers, corporate identities, business processes and even methods of designing.^[9]

Contents 1 Design as a process 1.1 The Rational Model 1.1.1 Example sequence of stages 1.1.2 Criticism of The Rational Model 1.2 The Action-Centric Model 1.2.1 Descriptions of design activities 1.2.2 Criticism of the Action-Centric Perspective 2 Design disciplines 3 Philosophies and studies of design 3.1 Philosophies for guiding design 3.2 Approaches to design 3.3 Methods of designing 3.4 Philosophies for the purpose of designs 4 Terminology 4.1 Design and art 4.2 Design and engineering 4.3 Design and production 4.4 Process design 5 Footnotes 6 Bibliography

Design as a process

Substantial disagreement exists concerning how designers in many fields, whether amateur or professional, alone or in teams, produce designs. Dorst and Dijkhuis argued that "there are many ways of describing design processes" and discussed "two basic and fundamentally different ways",^[10] both of which have several names. The prevailing view has been called "The Rational Model",^[11] "Technical Problem Solving"^[12] and "The Reason-Centric Perspective".^[13] The alternative view has been called "Reflection-in-Action",^[12] "co-evolution"^[14] and "The Action-Centric Perspective".^[13]

The Rational Model

The Rational Model was independently developed by Simon^[15] and Pahl and Beitz.^[16] It posits that:

1. designers attempt to optimize a design candidate for known constraints and objectives,
2. the design process is plan-driven,
3. the design process is understood in terms of a discrete sequence of stages.

The Rational Model is based on a rationalist philosophy^[11] and underlies the Waterfall Model,^[17] Systems Development Life Cycle^[18] and much of the engineering design literature.^[19] According to the rationalist philosophy, design is informed by research and knowledge in a predictable and controlled manner. Technical rationality is at the center of the process.^[8]

Example sequence of stages

Typical stages consistent with The Rational Model include the following.

• Pre-production design
  • Design brief or Parti pris – an early (often the beginning) statement of design goals
  • Analysis – analysis of current design goals
  • Research – investigating similar design solutions in the field or related topics
  • Specification – specifying requirements of a design solution for a product (product design specification)^[20] or service.
  • Problem solving – conceptualizing and documenting design solutions
  • Presentation – presenting design solutions
• Design during production
  • Development – continuation and improvement of a designed solution
  • Testing – in situ testing a designed solution
• Post-production design feedback for future designs
  • Implementation – introducing the designed solution into the environment
  • Evaluation and conclusion – summary of process and results, including constructive criticism and suggestions for future improvements
• Redesign – any or all stages in the design process repeated (with corrections made) at any time before, during, or after production.

Each stage has many associated best practices.^[21]

Criticism of The Rational Model

The Rational Model has been widely criticized on two primary grounds

1. Designers do not work this way – extensive empirical evidence has demonstrated that designers do not act as the rational model suggests.^[22]
2. Unrealistic assumptions – goals are often unknown when a design project begins, and the requirements and constraints continue to change.^[23]

The Action-Centric Model

The Action-Centric Perspective is a label given to a collection of interrelated concepts, which are antithetical to The Rational Model.^[13] It posits that:

1. designers use creativity and emotion to generate design candidates,
2. the design process is improvised,
3. no universal sequence of stages is apparent – analysis, design and implementation are contemporary and inextricably linked^[13]

The Action-Centric Perspective is a based on an empiricist philosophy and broadly consistent with the Agile approach^[24] and amethodical development.^[25] Substantial empirical evidence supports the veracity of this perspective in describing the actions of real designers.^[22] Like the Rational Model, the Action-Centric model sees design as informed by research and knowledge. However, research and knowledge are brought into the design process through the judgment and common sense of designers – by designers "thinking on their feet" – more than through the predictable and controlled process stipulated by the Rational Model. Designers' context-dependent experience and professional judgment take center stage more than technical rationality.^[8]

Descriptions of design activities

At least two views of design activity are consistent with the Action-Centric Perspective. Both involve three basic activities.

In the Reflection-in-Action paradigm, designers alternate between "framing," "making moves," and "evaluate moves." "Framing" refers to conceptualizing the problem, i.e., defining goals and objectives. A "move" is a tentative design decision. The evaluation process may lead to further moves in the design.^[12]

In the Sensemaking-Coevolution-Implementation Framework, designers alternate between its three titular activities. Sensemaking includes both framing and evaluating moves. Implementation is the process of constructing the design object. Coevolution is "the process where the design agent simultaneously refines its mental picture of the design object based on its mental picture of the context, and vice versa."^[26]

Criticism of the Action-Centric Perspective

As this perspective is relatively new, it has not yet encountered much criticism. One possible criticism is that it is less intuitive than The Rational Model.

Design disciplines

• Applied arts
• Architecture
• Fashion Design
• Game Design
• Graphic Design
• Industrial Design Engineering
• Interaction Design
• Interior Design
• Product Design
• Process Design
• Engineering Design
• Instructional Design
• Web Design
• Service design

Philosophies and studies of design

There are countless philosophies for guiding design as the design values and its accompanying aspects within modern design vary, both between different schools of thought and among practicing designers.^[27] Design philosophies are usually for determining design goals. A design goal may range from solving the least significant individual problem of the smallest element, to the most holistic influential utopian goals. Design goals are usually for guiding design. However, conflicts over immediate and minor goals may lead to questioning the purpose of design, perhaps to set better long term or ultimate goals.

A 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic from the Ralph Lauren collection. "Form follows function" can be an aesthetic point of view that a design can heighten, as often seen in the work of the Bugattis, Ettore, Rembrandt, and Jean.

Philosophies for guiding design

Design philosophies are fundamental guiding principles that dictate how a designer approaches his/her practice. Reflections on material culture and environmental concerns (Sustainable design) can guide a design philosophy. One example is the First Things First manifesto which was launched within the graphic design community and states "We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design."^[28]

In The Sciences of the Artificial by polymath Herbert A. Simon the author asserts design to be a meta-discipline of all professions. "Engineers are not the only professional designers. Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones. The intellectual activity that produces material artifacts is no different fundamentally from the one that prescribes remedies for a sick patient or the one that devises a new sales plan for a company or a social welfare policy for a state. Design, so construed, is the core of all professional training; it is the principal mark that distinguishes the professions from the sciences. Schools of engineering, as well as schools of architecture, business, education, law, and medicine, are all centrally concerned with the process of design."^[29]

Approaches to design

A design approach is a general philosophy that may or may not include a guide for specific methods. Some are to guide the overall goal of the design. Other approaches are to guide the tendencies of the designer. A combination of approaches may be used if they don't conflict.

Some popular approaches include:

• KISS principle, (Keep it Simple Stupid, etc.), which strives to eliminate unnecessary complications.
• There is more than one way to do it (TIMTOWTDI), a philosophy to allow multiple methods of doing the same thing.
• Use-centered design, which focuses on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the artifact, rather than focusing on the end user.
• User-centered design, which focuses on the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of the designed artifact.
• Critical design uses designed artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on existing values, morals, and practices in a culture.

Methods of designing

Main article: Design methods

Design Methods is a broad area that focuses on:

• Exploring possibilities and constraints by focusing critical thinking skills to research and define problem spaces for existing products or services—or the creation of new categories; (see also Brainstorming)
• Redefining the specifications of design solutions which can lead to better guidelines for traditional design activities (graphic, industrial, architectural, etc.);
• Managing the process of exploring, defining, creating artifacts continually over time
• Prototyping possible scenarios, or solutions that incrementally or significantly improve the inherited situation
• Trendspotting; understanding the trend process.

Philosophies for the purpose of designs

In philosophy, the abstract noun "design" refers to a pattern with a purpose. Design is thus contrasted with purposelessness, randomness, or lack of complexity.

To study the purpose of designs, beyond individual goals (e.g. marketing, technology, education, entertainment, hobbies), is to question the controversial politics, morals, ethics and needs such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs. "Purpose" may also lead to existential questions such as religious morals and teleology. These philosophies for the "purpose of" designs are in contrast to philosophies for guiding design or methodology.

Often a designer (especially in commercial situations) is not in a position to define purpose. Whether a designer is, is not, or should be concerned with purpose or intended use beyond what they are expressly hired to influence, is debatable, depending on the situation. In society, not understanding or disinterest in the wider role of design might also be attributed to the commissioning agent or client, rather than the designer. Some newer fields of design have built-in purposes and values, such as user-centered design, slow design, and sustainable design.

In structuration theory, achieving consensus and fulfillment of purpose is as continuous as society. Raised levels of achievement often lead to raised expectations. Design is both medium and outcome, generating a Janus-like face, with every ending marking a new beginning.

Terminology

The word "design" is often considered ambiguous, as it is applied differently in a varying contexts.

The new terminal at Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain

Design and art

Today the term design is widely associated with the Applied arts as initiated by Raymond Loewy and teachings at the Bauhaus and Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) in Germany during the 20th Century.

The boundaries between art and design are blurred, largely due to a range of applications both for the term 'art' and the term 'design'. Applied arts has been used as an umbrella term to define fields of industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, etc. The term 'decorative arts' is a traditional term used in historical discourses to describe craft objects, and also sits within the umbrella of Applied arts. In graphic arts (2D image making that ranges from photography to illustration) the distinction is often made between fine art and commercial art, based on the context within which the work is produced and how it is traded.

To a degree, some methods for creating work, such as employing intuition, are shared across the disciplines within the Applied arts and Fine art. Mark Getlein suggests the principles of design are "almost instinctive", "built-in", "natural", and part of "our sense of 'rightness'."^[30] However, the intended application and context of the resulting works will vary greatly.

A drawing for a booster engine for steam locomotives. Engineering is applied to design, with emphasis on function and the utilization of mathematics and science.

Design and engineering

In engineering, design is a component of the engineering process. Many overlapping methods and processes can be seen when comparing Product design, Industrial design and Engineering. The American Heritage Dictionary defines design as: "To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent," and "To formulate a plan", and defines engineering as: "The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems.".^[31][32] Both are forms of problem-solving with a defined distinction being the application of "scientific and mathematical principles". The increasingly scientific focus of engineering in practice, however, has raised the importance of new more "human-centered" fields of design.^[33] How much science is applied in a design is a question of what is considered "science". Along with the question of what is considered science, there is social science versus natural science. Scientists at Xerox PARC made the distinction of design versus engineering at "moving minds" versus "moving atoms".

Jonathan Ive has received several awards for his design of Apple Inc. products like this MacBook. In some design fields, personal computers are also used for both design and production

Design and production

The relationship between design and production is one of planning and executing. In theory, the plan should anticipate and compensate for potential problems in the execution process. Design involves problem-solving and creativity. In contrast, production involves a routine or pre-planned process. A design may also be a mere plan that does not include a production or engineering process, although a working knowledge of such processes is usually expected of designers. In some cases, it may be unnecessary and/or impractical to expect a designer with a broad multidisciplinary knowledge required for such designs to also have a detailed specialized knowledge of how to produce the product.

Design and production are intertwined in many creative professional careers, meaning problem-solving is part of execution and the reverse. As the cost of rearrangement increases, the need for separating design from production increases as well. For example, a high-budget project, such as a skyscraper, requires separating (design) architecture from (production) construction. A Low-budget project, such as a locally printed office party invitation flyer, can be rearranged and printed dozens of times at the low cost of a few sheets of paper, a few drops of ink, and less than one hour's pay of a desktop publisher.

This is not to say that production never involves problem-solving or creativity, nor that design always involves creativity. Designs are rarely perfect and are sometimes repetitive. The imperfection of a design may task a production position (e.g. production artist, construction worker) with utilizing creativity or problem-solving skills to compensate for what was overlooked in the design process. Likewise, a design may be a simple repetition (copy) of a known preexisting solution, requiring minimal, if any, creativity or problem-solving skills from the designer.

An example of a business workflow process using Business Process Modeling Notation.

Process design

"Process design" (in contrast to "design process" mentioned above) refers to the planning of routine steps of a process aside from the expected result. Processes (in general) are treated as a product of design, not the method of design. The term originated with the industrial designing of chemical processes. With the increasing complexities of the information age, consultants and executives have found the term useful to describe the design of business processes as well as manufacturing processes.

Footnotes

1. ^ Dictionary meanings in the Cambridge Dictionary of American English, at Dictionary.com (esp. meanings 1–5 and 7–8) and at AskOxford (esp. verbs).
2. ^ Ralph, P. and Wand, Y. (2009). A proposal for a formal definition of the design concept. In Lyytinen, K., Loucopoulos, P., Mylopoulos, J., and Robinson, W., editors, Design Requirements Workshop (LNBIP 14), pp. 103–136. Springer-Verlag doi:10.1007/978-3-540-92966-6_6.
3. ^ Ralph, P. and Wand, Y. (2009). A proposal for a formal definition of the design concept. In Lyytinen, K., Loucopoulos, P., Mylopoulos, J., and Robinson, W., editors, Design Requirements Workshop (LNBIP 14), pp. 103–136. Springer-Verlag, p. 109 doi:10.1007/978-3-540-92966-6_6.
4. ^ Don Kumaragamage, Y. (2011). Design Manual Vol 1
5. ^ Simon (1996)
6. ^ Alexander, C. (1964) Notes on the Synthesis of Form, Harvard University Press.
7. ^ Eekels, J. (2000). "On the Fundamentals of Engineering Design Science: The Geography of Engineering Design Science, Part 1". Journal of Engineering Design 11 (4): 377–397. doi:10.1080/09544820010000962. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} Inge Mette Kirkeby (2011). "Transferable Knowledge". Architectural Research Quarterly 15 (1): 9–14. http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/bt/Documents/KirkebyInterviewMedBF4%200PRINT.pdf. 
9. ^ Brinkkemper, S. (1996). "Method engineering: engineering of information systems development methods and tools". Information and Software Technology 38 (4): 275–280. doi:10.1016/0950-5849(95)01059-9. 
10. ^ Dorst and Dijkhuis 1995, p. 261
11. ^ ^{a b} Brooks 2010
12. ^ ^{a b c} Schön 1983
13. ^ ^{a b c d} Ralph 2010
14. ^ Dorst and Cross 2001
15. ^ Newell and Simon 1972; Simon 1969
16. ^ Pahl and Beitz 1996
17. ^ Royce 1970
18. ^ Bourque and Dupuis 2004
19. ^ Pahl et al. 2007
20. ^ Cross, N., 2006. T211 Design and Designing: Block 2, p. 99. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
21. ^ Ullman, David G. (2009) The Mechanical Design Process, Mc Graw Hill, 4th edition ISBN 0-07-297574-1
22. ^ ^{a b} Cross et al. 1992; Ralph 2010; Schön 1983
23. ^ Brooks 2010; McCracken and Jackson 1982
24. ^ Beck et al. 2001
25. ^ Truex et al. 2000
26. ^ Ralph 2010, p. 67
27. ^ Holm, Ivar (2006). Ideas and Beliefs in Architecture and Industrial design: How attitudes, orientations and underlying assumptions shape the built environment. Oslo School of Architecture and Design. ISBN 82-547-0174-1.
28. ^ First Things First 2000 a design manifesto. manifesto published jointly by 33 signatories in: Adbusters, the AIGA journal, Blueprint, Emigre, Eye, Form, Items fall 1999/spring 2000
29. ^ Simon (1996), p. 111.
30. ^ Mark Getlein, Living With Art, 8th ed. (New York: 2008) 121.
31. ^ American Psychological Association (APA): design. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 10, 2007
32. ^ American Psychological Association (APA): engineering. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 10, 2007
33. ^ Faste 2001

Bibliography

Look up design in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Design

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Design

• Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B., Martin, R.C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K., Sutherland, J., and Thomas, D. Manifesto for agile software development, 2001.
• Bourque, P., and Dupuis, R. (eds.) Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge (SWEBOK). IEEE Computer Society Press, 2004 ISBN 0-7695-2330-7.
• Brooks, F.P. The design of design: Essays from a computer scientist, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2010 ISBN 0-201-36298-8.
• Cross, N., Dorst, K., and Roozenburg, N. Research in design thinking, Delft University Press, Delft, 1992 ISBN 90-6275-796-0.
• Dorst, K., and Cross, N. (2001). "Creativity in the design process: Co-evolution of problem-solution". Design Studies 22 (2): 425–437. doi:10.1016/0142-694X(94)00012-3. 
• Dorst, K., and Dijkhuis, J. "Comparing paradigms for describing design activity," Design Studies (16:2) 1995, pp 261–274.
• Faste, R. (2001). "The Human Challenge in Engineering Design". International Journal of Engineering Education 17 (4–5): 327–331. http://www.ijee.ie/articles/Vol17-4and5/Ijee1230.pdf. 
• McCracken, D.D., and Jackson, M.A. (1982). "Life cycle concept considered harmful". SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 7 (2): 29–32. doi:10.1145/1005937.1005943. http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/association-for-computing-machinery/life-cycle-concept-considered-harmful-WXRCv45NVM. 
• Newell, A., and Simon, H. Human problem solving, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972.
• Pahl, G., and Beitz, W. Engineering design: A systematic approach, Springer-Verlag, London, 1996 ISBN 3-540-19917-9.
• Pahl, G., Beitz, W., Feldhusen, J., and Grote, K.-H. Engineering design: A systematic approach, (3rd ed.), Springer-Verlag, 2007 ISBN 1-84628-318-3.
• Ralph, P. "Comparing two software design process theories," International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST 2010), Springer, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2010, pp. 139–153.
• Royce, W.W. "Managing the development of large software systems: Concepts and techniques," Proceedings of Wescon, 1970.
• Schön, D.A. The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action, Basic Books, USA, 1983.
• Simon, H.A. The sciences of the artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1996 ISBN 0-262-69191-4.
• Truex, D., Baskerville, R., and Travis, J. (2000). "Amethodical systems development: The deferred meaning of systems development methods". Accounting, Management and Information Technologies 10 (1): 53–79. doi:10.1016/S0959-8022(99)00009-0. 

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Common misspelling(s) of designed

• dessigned
• desgined

Dansk (Danish)
n. - design, plan, mønster, dekoration, hensigt, form, konstruktion, model, udførelse
v. tr. - designe, konstruere, planlægge, beregne
v. intr. - være designer

idioms:

• by design    med vilje, planlagt
• have designs on    have planer med

Nederlands (Dutch)
ontwerp, opzet, design (vormgeving), dessin, plan/opzet, ontwerpen, uitdenken, bedoelen, construeren

Français (French)
n. - dessein, intention, projet, plan, dessin, croquis, ébauche, étude, conception, style, ligne de, esthétique, design, look, stylisme, création (industrielle), motif
v. tr. - concevoir, être destiné à qch/à faire, dessiner le patron de, créer, dessiner/faire les plans de
v. intr. - ébaucher, esquisser, faire un plan de

idioms:

• by design    à dessein
• have designs on    avoir des vues sur, avoir des dessins sur

Deutsch (German)
v. - entwerfen, planen, beabsichtigen
n. - Entwurf, Plan, Design, Gestaltung, Muster, Absicht

idioms:

• by design    absichtlich
• have designs on    ein Auge haben auf, es auf jmdn. abgesehen haben

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - σχεδιάζω, επινοώ, εκπονώ μελέτη ή σχέδιο
n. - σχεδίαση, (κακοπροαίρετη) επιδίωξη, βλέψη ή πρόθεση, σκοπιμότητα, απώτερος σκοπός, τεχνική μελέτη ή σχεδίαση, διακοσμητικό σχέδιο, εκπόνηση, μελέτη, διάταξη (στοιχείων κατασκευάσματος)

idioms:

• by design    σκοπίμως, σκόπιμα
• have designs on    έχω βλέψεις σε

Italiano (Italian)
abbozzare, progettare, progetto, disegno

idioms:

• by design    premeditato
• have designs on    avere delle mire su

Português (Portuguese)
v. - projetar, desenhar, idealizar
n. - projeto (m), modelo (m)

idioms:

• by design    intencionalmente
• have designs on    cobiçar

Русский (Russian)
разрабатывать, проектировать, план, проект, разработка, дизайн

idioms:

• by design    нарочно
• have designs on    иметь замыслы на

Español (Spanish)
n. - propósito, intención, diseño, bosquejo, plan, proyecto, estilización, dibujo, estilo, trama
v. tr. - trazar, diseñar, proyectar, idear, concebir, dedicar pienso
v. intr. - trazar, diseñar, idear, dibujar, bosquejar

idioms:

• by design    intencionalmente, a propósito
• have designs on    tener la mira puesta en, poner los ojos en

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - utforma, formge, skissera, planera
n. - formgivning, utformning, skiss, utkast

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
设计, 花样, 图案, 打算将...用作, 构思, 绘制, 计划, 画图样, 谋划, 当设计师

idioms:

• by design    故意地
• have designs on    抱不良企图

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 設計, 花樣, 圖案
v. tr. - 設計, 打算將...用作, 構思, 繪製, 計劃
v. intr. - 設計, 畫圖樣, 計劃, 謀劃, 當設計師

idioms:

• by design    故意地
• have designs on    抱不良企圖

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 밑그림, 설계, 구상, 뜻을 품다
v. tr. - 설계하다, 밑그림을 그리다, (어떤 목적을) 계획하다
v. intr. - 밑그림을 만들다, ~할 계획이다, 설계하다

idioms:

• by design    고의로
• have designs on    ~에게 살의를 품다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - デザイン, 図案, 意匠, 柄, 模様, 設計, 構想, 筋書き, 意図, たくらみ
v. - デザインする, 設計する, 考案する, 計画する

idioms:

• by design    故意に
• have designs on    …をねらっている

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يصمم شئ بعمل مخططات ورسومات له, يخطط (الاسم) تصميم, مخطط, فن التصميم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תוכנית, תרשים, מידגם, דוגמה, שרטוט, מודל, תכנון, עיצוב, כוונה‬
v. tr. - ‮תכנן, שרטט, עיצב, תיכן‬
v. intr. - ‮תכנן, שרטט, עיצב‬

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