What Is Design, and What Is It Worth?

Design is everywhere you look, and to some, design is everything. But, what is design worth?

Robert L Peters is a designer and principal of Circle, a design consultancy he co-founded in 1976 in Canada. He gave worth to design with just one quote "Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future." If this is true, and design really does determine the future, then the work designers do goes beyond their knowledge of Adobe, kerning and colour palettes. A designer's job, if this is the case, is to create work that has a positive effect on the future, and that's a lot of responsibility to carry as an individual. The design itself, also has a responsibility to translate its meaning as clearly as possible, which surely increases the importance and worth of design?

If design is everything, then wouldn't everyone be a designer? Emily Pilloton thought so when she said, "I believe that design is problem solving with grace and foresight. I believe that there is always a better way. I believe that design is a human instinct, that people are inherently optimistic, that every man is a designer, and that every problem can either be defined as a design problem or solved with a design solution." Are you a designer? Do you believe everyone is in their own way? If everyone was a designer, would it lower the value of designers? Can everything be defined as a design problem, or solved with a design solution?

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