Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

elations. One example of the formal type definitions is design professor and historian John
Heskett’s understanding of design as “the human capacity to shape and make our environment in
ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives” (Heskett 2002:
5). An influential example of descriptive definitions of design is proposed by Welsh design scholar
John Chris Jones, who defines design as “initiation of change in manmade things” (Jones 2009
[1992]: 78). Jones’ framing of design focuses on social change, which starts with supply of
materials and components to a producer and ends with the evolutionary effects upon society at
large. Although Buchanan (2001a) mentions that two types of definitions can be interchangeable
according to the needs of researchers and/or designers, he proposes a rather formal definition as:
”[d]esign is the human power of conceiving, planning, and making products that serve human
beings in the accomplishment of their individual and collective purposes” in his keynote speech on
design research and the new learning (Buchanan 2001a: 9).
The definition suggests that design is an art of invention and disposition, whose scope is
universal, in the sense that it may be applied for the creation of any human-made product
(Buchanan 2001a: 9).
Although several domain-specific definitions also exist, one common notion is often stated in
design research; that is, design as a social practice cannot be limited or dominated by one specific
profession, institution, or social group. Design is a communicative activity that takes place in
various levels of human practice, and refers to a general body of specific practices, methods and
ways of thinking (Buchanan 2001b) on how humans to interact with their environments. In his
inspirational theory on relations of design, human ecology and social change, distinguished
professor of architecture and design Victor Papanek (1984) claims design is a ‘basic human activity’
which is an essential constituent of social reality. Through design, humans aim to transform their
environments, tools, and ultimately themselves.
All men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all
human activity. The planning and patterning any act towards a desired, foreseeable end
constitutes the design process. (…) Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural,
painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk
drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking apple pie, choosing sides for a back-lot baseball
game, and educating a child. Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order
(Papanek 1984: 3).
For Cross (2007), who draws this particular argument upon Papanek’s (1984) ‘design for the real
world’ approach, design is a primary capacity of making sense of and modifying the environment
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