The process of design may be described as

"Design ... to form or conceive in the mind, invent ..."

- Oxford English Dictionary (2005)Oxford English Dictionary (2005) Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

"Design is a structured creative process ... All products and services are, in effect, ‘designed’, even if not by a professional designer."

- Department of Trade and Industry (2005)Department of Trade and Industry (2005) Economics paper 15: Creativity, design and business performance. Available from www.dti.gov.uk

"Design is the purposive application of creativity to all the activities necessary to bring ideas into use either as product (service) or process innovations"

- Bessant (2005)Bessant J, Whyte J, Neely A (2005) Management of creativity and design within the firm. Advanced Institute for Management and Imperial College, UK

"The configuration of materials, elements and components that give a product its particular attributes of performance, appearance, ease of use, method of manufacture"

- Walsh (1992)Walsh V, Roy R, Bruce M, Potter S (1992) Winning by design. Blackwell Business, Oxford, UK.

"Design is the process of converting an idea or market need into the detailed information from which a product or system can be made"

- Royal Academy of Engineering (2005)Royal Academy of Engineering (2005) Educating engineers in design. Available from wwww.raeng.org.uk