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When applied to fine and applied arts, engineering, and other such creative efforts, design is both a noun and a verb. The verb is the process of originating and developing a plan for an artistic or functional object, which may require countless hours of thought, modelling, iterative adjustment, and re-design. The noun is either the finalized plan of action, or the result of following that plan of action.
In philosophy, the abstract noun design refers to purpose/purposefulness, or teleology. Design is thus contrasted with purposelessness, randomness, or lack of complexity.
The design of complex systems is sometimes called architecture.
Some industrial designs are viewed as classic pieces of design that can be regarded as much as works of art as pieces of engineering. This is a list of designs that are regarded as having reached this classic status.