什么是设计
设计是一种有目的的创作行为，设计师整合各种情报资讯后，针对使用者需求逐步分析、探索、制订策略，再运用独特的美感诠释理念，成就令人动容的作品。设计随着运用的传达媒介和目标对象不同，分成许多种类，如以立体物件为主的产品设计、工业设计；熟悉空间和都市规划的建筑设计与室内设计；运用视觉图像传达讯息理念的平面设计或商业设计；研究电脑动画和利用电脑与使用者产生互动的数码媒体设计，还有以无形的服务体验为主的服务设计...等。
创意商品设计建构于工业设计基础，我们以人为本地思考使用者需求，创造数以百计的大众消费产品，举凡桌椅家具、音响电脑、牙刷、手机、摩托车等，都是工业设计师在生产限制范围内精心规划出的作品，能帮助人们获得更好的产品功能及丰富美感生活。当今社会需求在科技快速发展下不断变迁，设计师更需具备「策略整合者」的跨领域思维，整合硬件与软件、商品与服务，创造宽广的可能性。当生活中的诸多事物逐渐被科技与数据取代时，设计师对使用者需求的体察与掌握，以及整合沟通和创新构思的专业能力，将是最不容被忽视的时代竞争力。
美国IDEO设计公司执行长 Tim Brown 认为，好的创新以使用者需求(desirability)为前提，兼顾科技可行性(feasibility)与商业存续性(viability)，并能对社会产生正面的影响力。
德国百灵牌的首席设计师 Dieter Rams 则直指好的设计应具备的十项重点：
创新 Good design is Innovative
The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
实用 Good design makes a product useful
A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
美感 Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
易懂 Good design makes a product understandable
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.
低调 Good design is unobtrusive
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
诚实 Good design is honest
It does not make a product seem more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
持久 Good design is long-lasting
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
条理 Good design is through
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
环保 Good design is environmentally friendly
Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
极简 Good design is as little design as possible
Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
设计巨擘德国包浩斯学院(Bauhaus)也提出影响设计界甚钜的三项基本原理
型随机能 Form follows function
忠于材质 Truth to materials
少极是多 Less is more
设计因其时代背景和应用领域，拥有无限诠释方法。我们认为，设计之美在于它对「初衷」的渴望。设计透过积极的提问，将更好的解决方案带入我们的生活，成为密不可分的一部份，成就了他人，也成就了更美好的自己。
你心中的设计是什么呢？
「"简单"有时候意味着"复杂"，最纯净的白色也是由七彩的色光组成。」纽约Pheidon出版社评选国际一百大视觉设计师中唯一的台湾人、北京奥运设计顾问团中唯一的台湾人、被誉为「台湾设计之父」的林磐耸耕耘国内设计教育多年，每年积极串连各国设计大师来台。林磐耸高度强调设计教育中对于「思考」的启蒙，他提出在日语中被称为「意匠」的设计，其「意」字是由「音」和「心」组成，从事设计者都应该聆听自己内心的声音，并理解客户和社会大众的声音，创造出更美好的作品。
「如果你的东西和大家都一样，那干嘛还设计它？」如果你看过图中这只长得像外星人的榨汁机，那你一定感受过法国的设计鬼才 Philippe Starck 菲利普史塔克无边无际的创意威力。从1968年成立个人设计公司至今，Starck 完成许多令设计界津津乐道的产品设计及室内设计作品，举凡长得像鹅毛笔的史塔克牙刷、透明却具备古典形式的单人椅，都展现了他过人的创意，他能将各种领域的设计发挥的淋漓尽致，并强调「民主设计」(democratic design) 理念，让精美的设计品能符合社会大众的期待与需求，并运用塑胶材质发展许多每不胜收，使人忍不住收藏的经典作品。Starck 在 TED 演讲里表示，设计师不应该低着头向前、被脚下的事物牵绊，而是应该放远目光，望向未来，因为唯有这样才能创造出划时代的作品，替后代子孙奠定更好的基础。
