I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word design. I think it’s a word that has been completely bastardized of late, particularly in the context of web design and web designers.

Design, usually considered in the context of applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, “to design” refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component. As a noun, “a design” is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan (e.g. object produced, result of the process).
Ref: Wikipedia

It seems that these days, all you need in order to be considered a “web designer” is a pirated version of Photoshop and Dreamweaver (and let’s not forget a bookmark to TemplateMonster).

To “design” implies a rational process of problem-solving. To solve a problem, one needs to define what the problem is. Yes - the problem might be that “this interface looks crap”, in which case the solution would involve a big dose of style. However, more often than not, the work we produce involves a user experience of some kind - and user experience involves far more than just style.

It seems I’m not the only one frustrated with this issue. Here’s some food for thought:

• F*ck style
• You are not a designer