Unfortunately, a list of design practices doesn't bring us closer to a general definition of design suited to our study of games. For precedents of such general definitions, we can look to design theory, as a way to map the territory of possible approaches. We have assembled a number of definitions within a comparative list, in order to emphasize their differences.
"The etymology of design goes back to the Latin de + signare and means making something, distinguishing it by a sign, giving it significance, designating its relation to other things, owners, users, or gods. Based on this original meaning, one could say: 'design is making sense (of things).'"[2] This definition places making (sense) at the center of design.
Richard Buchanan argues that "design is concerned with the conception and planning of all of the instances of the artificial or human-made world: signs and images, physical objects, activities and services, and systems or environments." Such a perspective situates design within the artificial. [3]
Herbert Simon's definition emphasizes action, which is fundamentally related to his theories of management science: "Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones." [4]
John Heskett employs a more traditional definition, emphasizing the visual appearance of products as things: "design, the conception of visual form." [5]
Donald Schon regards design as a material conversation with the forms, substances, and concepts of a design problem as they are bGeorge Nelson's definition emphasizes design as communication: "Every design is in some sense a social communication, and what matters is…the emotional intensity with which the essentials have been explored and expressed." [6]
eing used. His design approach is process-driven and reflective, emphasizing the iterative qualities of design."In a good process of design, this conversation is reflective . . . the designer reflects-in-action on the construction of the problem, the strategies of action, or the model of the phenomena, which have been implicit in his moves." [7]
Designer Emilio Ambasz gives a descriptive but intellectually powerful definition, emphasizing poetic thought: "It has always been my deep belief that architecture and design are both mythmaking acts." [8]
Design historian Clive Dilnot suggests that design transforms by exploring the tension between the existing and the potential. "What design, as a mode of transformative action, allows us to see is how we negotiate the limits of what we understand, at any moment, as the actual. In design, in other words, we begin to see the processes whereby the limits of the actual are continually formed and re-formed." [9]
Design as making; the artificial; action; visual appearance; communication; a reflective process; thought; transformation: each definition offers valid and useful ways of understanding the practice of design by focusing on particular qualities or characteristics. Taken as a whole, the definitions point to a range of concerns affecting designers and help to bring the field of design as a whole into view. But what about game design? Is there a definition that addresses game design's particular territory, the design of meaningful play? In order to answer this question, we must ask another: What is the "design" in game design and how is it connected to the concept of meaningful play? As an answer, we offer the following general definition:
Design is the process by which a designer creates a context to be encountered by a participant, from which meaning emerges.
Let us look at each part of this definition in relation to game design:
The designer is the individual game designer or the team of people that creates the game. Sometimes, games emerge from folk culture or fan culture, so there may not be an individual designer or design team. In this case, the designer of the game can be considered culture at large.
The context of a game takes the form of spaces, objects, narratives, and behaviors.
The participants of a game are the players.They inhabit, explore, and manipulate these contexts through their play.
Meaning is a concept that we've already begun to explore. In the case of games, meaningful play is the result of players taking actions in the course of play.
This connection between design and meaning returns us to the earlier discussion of meaningful play. Consider a game of Tag. Without design we would have a field of players scampering about, randomly touching each other, screaming, and then running in the other direction. With design, we have a carefully crafted experience guided by rules, which make certain forms of interaction explicitly meaningful. With design a touch becomes meaningful as a "tag" and whoever is "It" becomes the feared terror of the playground. The same is true of computer games as well. As game designer Doug Church puts it, "The design is the game; without it you would have a CD full of data, but no experience." [10]
[2]Klaus Krippendorff, "On the Essential Contexts of Artifacts or on the Proposition that 'Design is Making Sense (of Things)'." In The Idea of Design, A Design Issues Reader, p. 156.
[3]Richard Buchanan, "Wicked Problems in Design Thinking." In The Idea of Design, A Design Issues Reader, p. 6.
[4]Herbert Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968), p. 55.
[5]John Heskett, Industrial Design (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 7.
[6]Richard Buchanan, "Wicked Problems in Design Thinking." In The Idea of Design, A Design Issues Reader, p. 8.
[7]Donald A. Schon, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (New York: Basic Books, 1983), p. 79.
[8]Emilio Ambasz, Emilio Ambasz: The Poetics of the Pragmatic (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1988), p. 24.
[9]Clive Dilnot, The Science of Uncertainty: The Potential Contribution of Design Knowledge, p. 65-97.Proceedings of the Ohio Conference, Doctoral Education in Design, October 8-11, 1998.Pittsburgh School of Design. Carnegie Mellon University.
[10]Doug Church, "Formal Abstract Design Tools." <www.gamasutra.com>, July 16, 1999.