Dear All,

There are several conversations going on in this thread.

The first conversation involves etymology, the history and origins of the word “design.” Relatively little of this conversation has actually been about the etymology of this English-language word. Etymology involves the situated use of words revealed by cases and examples – Eduardo has been engaged in etymological inquiry on the word “design.”

The second conversation maps concepts to explore the meanings and resonant traditions of the word “design.” This deals with the current meanings of the word in the cultures, minds and languages of list members. This second conversation also involves related words and concepts from other languages, cultures, and times, along with the metaphors and meanings linked with them. This conversation also involves reflection on such words as “disegno,” “designare,” or the practices of drawing as communication, as ideation, or both. Terry, Eduardo, Lily, Jude and others have developed fruitful concepts in this second conversation, and Jerry’s note on education also fit here.

So do the Flusser (1995) and Terzidis (2007) essays. These are not etymological studies, and they don’t offer text examples or etymological sources. Eduardo asked the right question: “Did any of these people gave examples of both Latin or English early (Elizabethan at least?)  texts?” They don’t. Instead, they are interesting reflections on what our contemporaries think about the meaning of the word “design” and the ideas and concepts they associate with this word. These are philosophical excursions, interesting and valuable as such. The issues involve concepts and notions related to etymology and meaning, but they are part of the second conversation.

Flusser himself says as much on the last page of his essay: “Here a confession is required. This essay pursues a very specific goal: to bring to light the crafty and insidious aspects of the word ‘design.’ I did this because these aspects normally are never mentioned. If I were dealing with other aspects of design, I would have spoken of ‘design’ in connection with signs, indications, patterns, and sketches; which perhaps offer another, equally plausible explanation for the word design's current standing. So it's all one – everything comes down to design” (1995: 53).

The third conversation involves definitions and the search for the “true” meaning of the word design. I am not sure that there is what one could call a “true” meaning. The very question of what that might be is an interpretive question. We don’t construct the past history and etymology of the word design, but we do construct the meaning we assert as true.

In my view, some definitions are more reasonable and useful than others. This is why I emphasize the first use, as a verb, and this is why I believe that Herbert Simon’s definition is the best definition to date. A while back, Gunnar asked aboutnon-tautological definition of the word design. Simon offers such a definition.

Terry’s last note asked my view on why there are so many definitions of the word design linked to definitions that resemble engineering as contrasted with art. In my view, this is bound up with the earliest and most basic English sense of the word: “to conceive and plan out in the mind; to have as a specific purpose; to devise for a specific function or end” (Merriam-Webster 1993: 343).

Simon’s definition is reasonably close, but it has greater covering power: To design is to “[devise] courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones” (Simon 1982: 129).

Ken

Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished Professor | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Phone +61 3 9214 6102 | http://www.swinburne.edu.au/design

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References

Flusser, Villem. 1995. “On the Word Design: An Etymological Essay.” Design Issues, Vol. 11 , No. 3, Autumn 1995, pp. 50-53.



Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1993. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Tenth edition. Springfield, Massachusetts.


Terzidis, Kostas. 2007. “The Etymology of Design: Pre-Socratic Perspective.” Design Issues: Vol. 23, No. 4, Autumn 2007, pp. 69-78.

Simon, Herbert. 1982. The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.



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