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Tuesday, November 18, 2003

A Definition of Design
Even though he claims we're getting past the definition problems in the field, Dick Buchanan offered us his formal definition of Design:

"Design is the human power to conceive, plan, and realize products that serve human beings in the accomplishment of any individual or collective purpose."

This a formal definition, meaning it is fairly rigorous and also fairly dry. There are other, descriptive definitions that are more lively: "Design is making things right." --Ralph Kaplan. "Design is the glimmer in God's eye." --Anonymous, etc.

Dick cautioned us that no definition is going to bring us closure on the big issues of design, however.

posted at 12:01 AM in big ideas | comments (0) | trackback (0)

 

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All straight lines circle sometime. - The Weakerthans