design notes wants to be ...

Design is all around us. It is easy to experience but hard to define.

Is it
a plan?
relationships between elements?
organization of information?
achievement of goals?
creative process of going from intent to actualization?
understanding and fulfilling needs?
a way of using critical and creative thinking?
open ended possibilities?

Everyone has an idea of design.

The natural world has design, everything interacting in complex ways, all the living and non-living in one interdependent whole, sometimes stable and harmonious, at other times quite the opposite but always changing and working at many levels. Our built worlds have design - our cities, our products, our arts and our many systems of production and distribution, of movement, of information and communication, of governance - man-made environments that enable us to do whatever it is that we do.

Sometimes our built worlds work harmoniously with the natural environment around us while at other times they don't - our activities either enhance the quality of our lives or threaten the very fabric of our existence, disrupting the critical elements on our planet that make our lives possible.

Our built environment is diverse and varies greatly from place to place, from people to people, depending on factors like technology, markets, culture, geography, social and historical conditions, and increasingly, globalisation.

There is great design, instantly recognizable and able to change the way we do things. There is also indifferent design and quite frequently, bad design. But, design is always there, sometimes incompetent and frustrating and sometimes brilliant and uplifting.

When concerned with the quality of life, design can become a way to make the worlds we build into places that enable the actualisation of our true potential, dreams and aspirations.

Design study and practice requires understanding of many different areas of activity and 'design notes' wants to be a place where this can be facilitated. Please see our publication section called 'Thinking about Design' and our discussion space. I invite you to add ideas, links, or anything else that is relevant to build a resource that designers can use. I know that many designers and others have built similar resources. Link to this space and expand your reach, and ours.