Design: Verb, Noun, or Both. Oh my!

Design is like a double threat when defined. To answer the question, “Is design a verb or a noun?” Well to me? It is both.

Design is a verb because it can be something that you’re doing. To design is to create a plan. It is the action of creating, as in the moment of doing design.

On the other hand, design is very much like a noun as it can refer to the item designed, the plan, or the idea. Hence, the noun definition of design refers to the plan or the steps taken to build your “idea”.

Thus, design is a very fluid term, because design is about everything and with such wide specifications there is no wonder that design is both a noun and a verb.

In Design 1, we decided to decipher and pick apart the roots of the word. The etymology of design can be derived from either its Latin roots or its Greek roots.

The Latin root of design was signare, which means, “to mark” or the action of mark making. Or in other words it means to sign, as in to sign or make your mark.

Where as in Greek, the root word for design means “approximately” which is interesting because we would believe that design would have to be exactly complete not incomplete. Professor Housefield mentioned that the Greek word for design meant trying to capture the invisible idea. Trying to complete an idea of an object that is in the process of becoming.

And finally from the Italian language, the word design is truly formed from the word disegno in which is it believed that Leon Battista Alberti who wrote the book Alberti, On Painting (1435), who brought the idea of design in to being.

Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting (1435) 

So now that I’ve defined my definition of design and explained its etymology from what I’ve learned in class. What is your opinion of the word design? Is it a noun, a verb, or both?

Thanks for joining me on this educational PSA,

Caroline