Design: a Process and Result

Considering that this blog is focused on design as a means for attaining sustainability, I reckon that a description of what I mean by design is in order. A design is a set of specifications or a description of some object or process, whereas design is a decision-making process that results in a design. The design process incorporates a range of activities that support making decisions about how something is to be made. Design decisions could be based purely on form (how something looks), function (how something works or performs), or a combination of both. Design might be an individual activity, a cooperative effort across a large organization, or even conducted as a distributed activity, such as in an open-source initiative.

A very broad array of activities could be described as design: consider an artist designing a sculpture in his mind before (or while) creating it, a project manager designing a project task schedule that meets time and resource constraints, or a group of engineers testing prototype electric motors and then drawing up plans for a final production version. In each case the designer(s) has some objectives, some constraints, and goes through a process to make decisions about how something should be made or done. Design Impact focuses on design processes and decisions, particularly those that influence creation or consumption of energy, or relate to sustainability in some other way. Engineering design clearly is important to energy issues; it should receive attention in concert with other issues critical to sustainability, such as policy ‘design’.

Here are my questions for you: when you hear the word design, what is your first thought? Who do you envision as a designer? How do you view the role of design in renewing our energy system, or perhaps even our economy?