What is Design? (Victor papaneck's views)

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What is Design? (Victor papaneck’s views)

One of Victor Papaneck’s books concentrates on the element of ‘Design’; in this book he gives his opinion, definitions and some facts based on design. Below I have taken and supported some of Papaneck’s views (given in the chapter ‘what is design?’). In this supporting essay, I have tried to back up Papaneck’s views with opinions from other people.        

        Papaneck’s main definition of design that he gives in this chapter is “Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order”. Everyone has a different definition of design however most of them are similar. William R. Miller’s (1996) definition of design supports Papaneck’s view, “Design is the thought process comprising the creation of an entity. Design is a conscious activity, guided by aims and objectives. It refers to planned and organized actions intended to bring about some predetermined outcome, although there may also be accidental or unexpected results.

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“The rightness of any design solution will depend on the meaning with which we invest the arrangement”.

“The mode of action by which a design fulfils its purpose is its function”.

“All men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity”

“Design as a problem solving activity can never, by definition, yield the one right answer: it will always produce an infinite number of answers, some ‘righter’ and some ‘wronger’ The ‘rightness’ of any design solution will depend on the meaning ...

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