A design is basically a blueprint or specification of an entity or structure, or even for the execution of an action or procedure, or the end product of that blueprint or specification, in the form of some prototype, product, or procedure. The verb to design normally refers to the process of creating a design. The most common example of this would be the architectural process where the architect creates the blueprints, then uses them to draw up the plans and finally uses them to build the final structure. The designer is the one who implements the design in the physical world through the various materials and techniques. There are also those designers who simply visualize the idea, and the creation of the idea in a more tangible form.
Designers must put a lot of effort and hard work to develop and finalize their product, which is usually done through a number of different approaches. The first step in designing a product or a process is the brainstorming session. During this stage, the members of the team come up with possible solutions to the problem and come up with new requirements. This helps in the development of new knowledge and in the improvement of the previously existing models. This leads to the refinement of the processes and assumptions that were made during the initial design process and hence to the resulting rational model.
The next step in the design process is to convert these rational models into actual applications or implementations. There are various methods of implementing these models into real products, and one of the most common types of methods is that of the universal design process. The Universal Design Processes (UDP) is basically a methodology of designing products, processes and systems that can be used in a generic manner. Some of the examples of universal designs that have been used and adapted by many industries are the National Automatic Switching Network (NASNet), the Software Quality Assurance Database (SQAD), and the Information Technology Quality Review Scheme (ITRS).
