Definitions explained
Old: Design as an applied art
“[A designer] is a planner with an aesthetic sense.”
~ Bruno Munari, 1966
Design wasn’t being used to describe a profession until the 1940’s. Prior to this, it was used to refer to a preliminary drawing or a plan. As Bruno Munari’s definition demonstrates, design — in the professional sense — was initially considered an applied art. This fits with the historical development of design, being born out of the industrial revolution. Mass production rendered the craftsman redundant as the production of an artifact was increasingly being done by machines. The loss of this artistic and technically skilled role gave rise to a new role of industrial designer or applied artist. The Bauhaus, under Walter Gropius’ leadership, was one of the first schools to recognize this new role and developed a curriculum based on it. To this day, most post-secondary design education institutions reflect this narrower applied arts definition with foundation courses in the fine arts. But, as the “new” definition demonstrates, this narrow notion of design is changing.
New: Design defined as a plan
“No longer associated simply with objects and appearances, design is increasingly understood in a much wider sense as the human capacity to plan and produce desired outcomes.” ~ Bruce Mau, 2007
Bruce Mau’s definition is similar to most definitions of the design profession since the early 1990’s. It is synonymous with the broadest sense of the term: to plan. Moving beyond aesthetics is also a common sentiment among researchers and practitioners that define design this broadly. Additionally, the definition is often broadened to include not just material artifacts as products of design, but immaterial artifacts such as environments and systems. Importantly, this definition fits well with how the term is being used outside of the applied arts context. Other fields such as engineering, management information systems and education, use similar broad definitions of design (although, they may not consider it a distinct discipline but rather a stage in a process to create something).