Design in various fields

Glossary, Reflections February 5, 2008

Design most often gets associated with some visual result. But is that truly all to it? Most dictionaries will enforce this viewpoint of design being something visual as the following definition, found on the web, will show:

NOUN: Both, the process and the result of structuring the elements of visual form; composition.

Once we begin to dig into the derivation of the word it does become visible that design is more than just stated before:

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English designen, from Latin ‘designare’, to designate.

THE FREE ONLINE DICTIONARY gives also a broader vista as the following excerpt of its definitions shows:

v. de·signed, de·sign·ing, de·signs

v.tr.

1. To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent: design a good excuse for not attending the conference.
2. To formulate a plan for; devise: designed a marketing strategy for the new product.
3. To plan out in systematic, usually graphic form: design a building; design a computer program.
4. To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner.

n.

1. The purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details: the aerodynamic design of an automobile; furniture of simple but elegant design.
2. The art or practice of designing or making designs.
3. Something designed, especially a decorative or an artistic work.
4. An ornamental pattern. (See Synonyms at figure).
5. A basic scheme or pattern that affects and controls function or development: the overall design of an epic poem.
6. A plan; a project. (See Synonyms at plan).
7. A reasoned purpose; an intent: It was her design to set up practice on her own as soon as she was qualified.

But even with all these definitions found and given, I feel that much of what design is, much of what design encompasses, much of what design implies… still does not get clearly stated. Wikipedia though does a good job here in its DESIGN entry as the following quote shows:

Design is often viewed as a more rigorous form of art, or art with a clearly defined purpose. The distinction is usually made when someone other than the artist is defining the purpose. [...]

Design implies a conscious effort to create something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. For example, a graphic artist may design an advertisement poster. …but [an artist as...] worked more intuitively… .

I can very strongly relate to the above 2 paragraphs as in past discussions with my art professor we danced exactly around these issues, but I do belief that many designers actually DO work intuitively and that design and art can flow strongly together and the one does not deny the other.

A little further down, Wikipedia has a wonderful long list of Design disciplines which really nicely opens up the horizon to the many fields of design, such as Sound design, User interface design, Theatrical design, Urban design and Fashion design to just name a few.