No generally-accepted definition of “design” exists[1], and the term has different connotations in different fields (see design disciplines below). Informally, “a design” (noun) refers to a plan for the construction of an object (as in architectural blueprints A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan, circuit diagrams A circuit diagram is a simplified conventional graphical representation of an electrical circuit. A pictorial circuit diagram uses simple images of components, while a schematic diagram shows the components of the circuit as simplified standard symbols; both types show the connections between the devices, including power and signal connections and sewing patterns In sewing and fashion design, a pattern is an original garment from which other garments of a similar style are copied, or the paper or cardboard templates from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric before cutting out and assembling) and “to design” (verb) refers to making this plan[2]. However, one can also design by directly constructing an object (as in pottery Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery can also refer to the material of which the potteryware is made. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Pottery is one of the oldest human technologies and art-forms, and remains a major industry today, cowboy coding and graphic design Graphic design is a creative process — most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form — undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience. The term "graphic design" can also refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines that).

More formally, design has been defined as follows.

(noun) a specification of an object Object is a technical term used in epistemology, a branch of philosophy concerning itself with the study of knowing. Aristotle had said, "All men by nature desire to know." René Descartes expanded this knowing into the grounds of certainty with cogito ergo sum, typically translated as "I think therefore I am." The thinker, manifested by an agent Agency is a concept used in philosophy and sociology to refer to the capacity of an agent to act in a world. In philosophy, the agency is considered as belonging to that agent even if that agent represents a fictitious character, or some other non-existent entity. The capacity to act does not at first imply a specific moral dimension to the, intended to accomplish goals A goal or objective is a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines, in a particular environment In science and engineering, a system is the part of the universe that is being studied, while the environment is the remainder of the universe that lies outside the boundaries of the system. It is also known as the surroundings, and in thermodynamics, as the reservoir. Depending on the type of system, it may interact with the environment by, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of requirements In engineering, a requirement is a singular documented need of what a particular product or service should be or perform. It is most commonly used in a formal sense in systems engineering or software engineering. It is a statement that identifies a necessary attribute, capability, characteristic, or quality of a system in order for it to have, subject to constraints;
(verb, transitive) to create a design, in an environment In science and engineering, a system is the part of the universe that is being studied, while the environment is the remainder of the universe that lies outside the boundaries of the system. It is also known as the surroundings, and in thermodynamics, as the reservoir. Depending on the type of system, it may interact with the environment by (where the designer operates)[3]

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 Organizational communication is a subfield of the larger discipline of communication studies. Organizational communication, as a field, is the consideration, analysis, and criticism of the role of communication in organizational contexts or unifying institution Institutional memory is a collective set of facts, concepts, experiences and know-how held by a group of people. As it transcends the individual, it requires the ongoing transmission of these memories between members of this group. Elements of institutional memory may be found in corporations, professional groups, government bodies, religious 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 A designer is a person whose work uses the design process. This means that a designer could be everyone who will use drafts, sketches to aid in the creation of a work, a product, an equipment of any scale. Classically, the main areas of design were only Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, who were understood as the major arts. With the arising, 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[4]. The scientific study of design is called design science [5].

Designing often necessitates considering the aesthetic Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical, functional, economic and sociopolitical dimensions of both the design object and design process. It may involve considerable research Research can be defined as the search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can use the, thought Thoughts are forms conceived in the mind, rather than the forms perceived through the five senses. Thought and thinking are the processes by which these concepts are perceived and manipulated. Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Similar concepts and processes include, modeling The geometry of the model and the object it represents are often similar in the sense that one is a rescaling of the other; in such cases the scale is an important characteristic. However, in many cases the similarity is only approximate or even intentionally distorted. Sometimes the distortion is systematic with e.g. a fixed scale horizontally, interactive adjustment Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills. Problem, and re-design. Meanwhile, diverse kinds of objects may be designed, including clothing A feature of all modern human societies is the wearing of clothing, a category encompassing a wide variety of materials that cover the body. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the elements. Clothes also enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking, by providing a barrier between the skin, graphical user interfaces A graphical user interface (sometimes pronounced gooey) is a type of user interface item that allows people to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment with images rather than text commands. A GUI, skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper. Most cities define the term empirically; even a building of 80 meters may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes above its built environment and changes the overall skyline.[, corporate identities In marketing, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives. It is usually visibly manifested by way of branding and the use of trademarks, business processes A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers. It often can be visualized with a flowchart as a sequence of activities and even methods of designing[6].

Contents

Design as a process

Design, as a process, can take many forms depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating. A simple definition is that design is the process of giving form to an idea. "Form" could be a plan of action or a description of a physical thing.

Defining a design process

According to video game developer A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Sony's PlayStation 3, PSP, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, Nintendo DS, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers Dino Dini[7][8], design underpins every form of creation from objects such as chairs to the way we plan and execute our lives. For this reason it is useful to seek out some common structure that can be applied to any kind of design, whether this be for video games, consumer products or one's own personal life.

For such an important concept, the question "What is Design?" appears to yield answers with limited usefulness. Dino Dini states that the design process can be defined as "The management of constraints". He identifies two kinds of constraint, negotiable and non-negotiable. The first step in the design process is the identification, classification and selection of constraints. The process of design then proceeds from here by manipulating design variables so as to satisfy the non-negotiable constraints and optimizing those which are negotiable. It is possible for a set of non-negotiable constraints to be in conflict resulting in a design with no solution; in this case the non-negotiable constraints must be revised. For example, take the design of a chair. A chair must support a certain weight to be useful, and this is a non-negotiable constraint. The cost of producing the chair might be another. The choice of materials and the aesthetic qualities of the chair might be negotiable.

Dino Dini theorizes that poor designs occur as a result of mismanaged constraints, something he claims can be seen in the way the video game industry makes "Must be Fun" a negotiable constraint where he believes it should be non-negotiable.

It should be noted that "the management of constraints" may not include the whole of what is involved in "constraint management" as defined in the context of a broader Theory of Constraints The underlying premise of Theory of Constraints is that organizations can be measured and controlled by variations on three measures: throughput, operating expense, and inventory. Throughput is money generated through sales. Inventory is money the system invests in order to sell its goods and services. Operating expense is all the money the system, depending on the scope of a design or a designer's position.

An architect An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings, and is licensed to practice architecture. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings, at his drawing board A drawing board is, in its antique form, a kind of multipurpose desk which can be used for any kind of drawing, writing or impromptu sketching on a large sheet of paper or for reading a large format book or other oversized document or for drafting precise technical illustrations. The drawing table used to be a frequent companion to a pedestal desk, 1893. The Peter Arno Born Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. in New York, New York, and educated at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, his cartoons were published in The New Yorker from 1925–1968. They often depicted a cross-section of New York society from the 1920s through the 1960s. He is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York phrase "Well, back to the old drawing board" makes light of the fact that designs sometimes fail and redesign is necessary. The phrase has meaning beyond structural designs Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads economically. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right and is an idiom when a drawing board is not used in a design.

Redesign

Something that is redesigned requires a different process than something that is designed for the first time. A redesign often includes an evaluation of the existent design and the findings of the redesign needs are often the ones that drive the redesign process. Some authors nevertheless suggest that from the evolutionary point of view the functionality, and even the aesthetic sophistication of artifacts is best understood as a result of redesign rather than design, as all successful artifacts are outcomes of cumulative improvements.

Typical steps

A design process may include a series of steps followed by designers. Depending on the product or service, some of these stages may be irrelevant, ignored in real-world situations in order to save time, reduce cost, or because they may be redundant in the situation.

Typical stages of the design process include:

These stages are not universally accepted but do relate typical design process activities. For each activity there are many best practices A Best practice is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications for completing them.[10]

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.[11] 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 Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system (physical, biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave influential utopian Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, which is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional 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 The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants was an entirely new design by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. Type 57s were built from 1934 through 1940, with a total of 710 examples produced from the Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best-known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand 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

A design philosophy is a guide to help make choices when designing such as ergonomics, costs, economics, functionality and methods of re-design. An example of a design philosophy is “dynamic change” to achieve the elegant or stylish look you need.

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:

Methods of designing

Main article: Design methods

Design Methods is a broad area that focuses on:

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.

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

Look up design in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word "design" is often considered ambiguous depending on the application.

The new terminal at Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain

Design and art

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. In graphic arts the distinction is often made between fine art and commercial art. Applied art and decorative arts are other terms, the latter mostly used for objects from the past.

In the realm of the arts, design is more relevant to the "applied" arts, such as architecture and industrial design. In fact today the term design is widely associated to modern industrial product design as initiated by Raymond Loewy and teachings at the Bauhaus and Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) in Germany during the 20th Century.

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. This person's job is to communicate the advertisement message (functional aspect) and to make it look good (aesthetically pleasing).

The distinction between pure and applied arts is not completely clear, but one may consider Jackson Pollock's (often criticized as "splatter") paintings as an example of pure art. One may assume his art does not convey a message based on the obvious differences between an advertisement poster and the mere possibility of an abstract message of a Jackson Pollock painting. One may speculate that Pollock, when painting, worked more intuitively than would a graphic artist, when consciously designing a poster. However, Mark Getlein suggests the principles of design are "almost instinctive", "built-in", "natural", and part of "our sense of 'rightness'."[12] Pollock, as a trained artist, may have utilized design whether conscious or not.

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

Engineering is often viewed as a more rigorous form of design. Contrary views suggest that design is a component of engineering aside from production and other operations which utilize engineering. A neutral view may suggest that design and engineering simply overlap, depending on the discipline of design. 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.".[13][14] Both are forms of problem-solving with a defined distinction being the application of "scientific and mathematical principles". 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 laptop. 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.

See also

Design portal

Design disciplines

Commerce

Applications

Communications

Scientific and mathematical

Physical

Design approaches and methods

Other design related topics

Design organizations

Design Museums and Education Centres

Design Awards

Design tools

Design as intellectual property

Impact of design

Studying design

Designs for the future

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Design
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Design

Footnotes

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ See dictionary meanings in the Cambridge Dictionary of American English, at Dictionary.com (esp. meanings 1-5 and 7-8) and at AskOxford (esp. verbs).
  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.
  4. ^ see Simon, H. (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, USA; Alexander, C. (1964) Notes on the Synthesis of Form, Harvard University Press.
  5. ^ see Simon, H. (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, USA; Eekels, J. (2000) On the Fundamentals of Engineering Design Science: The Geography of Engineering Design Science, Part 1, Journal of Engineering Design (11), pp. 377-397
  6. ^ Brinkkemper, S. (1996) Method engineering: engineering of information systems development methods and tools, Information and Software Technology (38:4), p. 275-280.
  7. ^ Talk given at the 2005 Game Design and Technology Workshop held by Liverpool JM University
  8. ^ GDC Europe 2009 talk: Design, Constraints and Integrity http://www.gdcvault.com/free/category/272/conference/ also http://dinodini.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/gdc-europe-2009-design-constraints-and-itegrity/
  9. ^ Cross, N., 2006. T211 Design and Designing: Block 2, page 99. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
  10. ^ Ullman, David G. (2009) The Mechanical Design Process, Mc Graw Hill, 4th edition
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Mark Getlein, Living With Art, 8th ed. (New York: 2008) 121.
  13. ^ American Psychological Association (APA): design. (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 10, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/design
  14. ^ American Psychological Association (APA): engineering. (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 10, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/engineering
  15. ^ Examines the role of embedded behaviour in human environments.
  16. ^ Concerns the existence and construction of mathematical set systems that have specified numerical properties.
  17. ^ Actively involving users in the design process.
  18. ^ Drafting and other forms of modelling.
  19. ^ Includes economic, environmental and political issues.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (July 2008)

Categories: Philosophy of design | Design | Architectural design | Arts

 

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A. First, go to or which are search engines for companies in China, try to find those that may manufacture such or similar products, send a few e-mails with your inquiries and that should start it nicely. Of course, then you would have to meet with relevant people, present your ideas (hire an interpretor while you are there), protect your product, get a local tax/accounting/legal adviser and so on.
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