The Design of Design

The design of design. It sounds like a loaded statement but it is a necessary conundrum to get at the crux of what it is to design and why we design. Very rarely is design an inert ability that spawns from itself. Design is breathed to life by inspiration. Inspiration from not only within, but more importantly what surrounds us and what we experience.
Whatever is designed, and there isn't much that isn't, is an experience. These experiences infect us and stay with us whether we are conscious of them or not. People like to think that great designs are pulled out of the air by technical or artistic savants, but, the truth is, everything has a precedent. As much as we like to think that we as humans have designed our own world as we see fit, and to an extent we have, we really have just been inspired by what has been and have set forth on an irreversible path of innovation ever since. All designs, no matter how simple or complex, have their origin in the original designer: nature. I'm not here to argue evolutionary or intelligent design, but the fact of the matter is that everything on this planet has been designed at some level. It is only natural that once we have reached the pinnacle of this design, intelligent thought, memory and craft, that we would take the torch and become the designers. Inspired by all that has come before, what is demanded of us now and the possibility of what will be.