Why the definition of design might need a change
The Latin root of “design,” dē-signo, conveyed to the likes of Cicero a far wider, more abstract set of meanings than we generally give the word today. These ranged from the literal and material (like tracing) through the tactical (to contrive and achieve a goal) to the organizational and institutional—as in the strategic “designation” of people and objects (where the root “design” remains visibly embedded). All these meanings share a broad sense of imposing shape on the world, in its institutions and arrangements. Yet…