Understanding Design

What is design?
Everyone is a designer. Design is just a particular mode of problem solving. It addresses problems inherent in everyday life. We, as humans, are de facto designers. The glove compartment won’t stay closed, so we fold up a piece of paper to wedge it shut. Keys fall behind the bookcase, so we bend a coat hanger and hook them out. Anytime we make a tool, we’re acting as designers. Every time we organize our drawers, we make design decisions. We often forget that everything man-made we use (which is most of what we use) at some point had to be designed. At least this is the conclusion I have come to through my studies.
When we talk about design however, we’re really discussing those people who are intentionally designing. Thinking about the impacts of each decision on the overall effect of their creation, be it a chair or a public service. Unfortunately, many of today’s designers have taken more of the role of the shell producer, the aesthetic finisher, the marketer’s assistant. Perhaps this generalization is a bit harsh, but frankly, there need be more concern over what’s being made, how it’s being made, and what it’s being made of than how it looks in the end [Though admittedly, one cannot ignore this factor: it plays a major role in selling the piece.]
One of the first expansions of my view of the designer during the project took place during a lecture on sustainable design given by Daniel C Wahl (Forum for the Future). He pointed out that design methods can be used on many different scales, not simply for product design. In the sustainable field, principles of design can be applied to sustainable architecture and sustainable construction industry, scaling up to sustainable community design, and further to industrial ecology and sustainable urban design, to scales as large as bioregional planning and national and international cooperation. My focus was mainly on product design, but included some experience with design of social services.
Design can and will play a much bigger role in the development in a sustainable role, and, in light of technological developments currently taking place where computers can generate gorgeous curves and perfectly straight edges, design must be more than creating beautiful forms. Design can be used to solve many of the world’s greatest challenges, including energy production and use, social inequalities, global poverty, etc. etc. etc. Really, there are too many problems to list, and good design can address all of them.

Hopefully, more focused developments of this post will appear when I finish with the rest of the ones I've already proposed.