I was thinking about this notion and the general assumption that design has a designer. This really seems like a chicken and the egg type of question. I pondered nature as an example- and the fact that nature exists without a "human" designer yet it clearly produces designs. For instance, the vascular system of a plant- it's an ingenious solution for water transport and defies gravity and is so effective- yet no person figured this out and made it, of course. The design emerged from its surroundings and the necessities of of what existed.
Does that mean that design just emerges eventually, with time and evolution? Certainly designers have expedited this process. Therefore, from the perspective of a human thinking in terms of generations, not eons, I think that most design has a designer but some designs can just emerge based on circumstance.
I think it usually takes a designer to notice what is emerging and make it into something though. A user can practically generate a design- which would imply that anyone-- not just designers-- can design. For example- a baby grasping onto a chair and pushing it while walking practically designs itself into a baby walker- but an adult watching this must translate this action using creative powers into something feasible and thus the baby walker is born. Then, on the other hand, there are designers seeking out possible designs to make- they are searching for problems, and poor user-interface, ugly objects, and dysfunctional design. And with discovery, they are able to focus on an idea and make or improve a design.
Here is my mind-map relating to the question of design having a designer.
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