Design Activities

Design activities may be formal or informal. Informal design occurs when a product is made by the designer without the use of a plan. Formal design involves the complete preparation of a set of working drawings. The working drawings are then used in constructing the product. Architectural design is nearly always of the formal type.
Ideas in the creative stage may be recorded by sketching basic images. These sketches are then revised until the ideas are crystallized and given final form. First sketches rarely produce a finished design. Usually, many revisions are necessary.
A basic idea, regardless of how creative and imaginative, is useless unless the design can be built successfully. Designing involves the transfer of basic sketches into architectural working drawings. Every useful building must perform a specific function. Every part of the structure should also be designed to perform a specific function. Today's buildings must be not only functional but also aesthetically conceived, and for both purposes the elements and principles of design must be applied.