I want to be a better designer.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to design something?

For my Ba. I went to a university where they taught us graphic design in a very broad sense. I have a “Ba in Design”. But I don’t feel like I have even scratched the surface of what design is.

I used Photoshop since middle school, I learned to hate InDesign early when composing the school newspaper, I took photography at uni, I drew abstract paintings and so many chairs that I want to break them. I created brand guidelines, websites, I’m working on a “user experience”, I make games.

But I do not know, what design is.

To me design is creating but it is also art. I’m willing to argue that all creation is art even if the creator did not intend it to be art. What is the difference between a painting and a well designed web page? Their function? Does this mean that mastery and expression are not part of either of the professions? Why do we separate them?

What about coding?

Or let’s be radical, cleaning.

Everything we do, everything we create, we design. Ergo, design is all and design is nothing.

Design does not just live beyond the pen tool, the pen tool is an artifact of design around it.

Even human behavior is designed. Ever since the first tool, we used design and design shaped how we act. Design is human.