This is something that practically does not have a correct answer. It may be a good thing or a bad thing. In either case, it is really something you must chew on if you are tangled within the process of designing something. It really is not that important if you are a person which deals with it every day or if you want to hire one such person for some work. The only thing that matters here is that you have a good grasp of what it means so that you can easily get your head around this word's various uses.
Design represents the planning behind everything that is yet to be. It is both a verb and a noun and it can refer to, depending on the context, engineering and applied arts. When we're talking about it as a verb, we're talking about the progress of a product, a system or a structure that is yet to come into a physical form. When referred to as a noun, people refer use it to either point out a final solution for a description, proposal, model or drawing or they may be using it to refer to the outcome of implementation of that specific plan in the final product.
When we are talking about a person that designs, that person is referred to as a designer. This is also the term that professionals are called by if they are engaged in one of the areas that involve it, like arts designer, web designer or fashion designer. Designing something require a great attention to detail and the aesthetic and functional aspects are the most important, needless to say, there are many more aspects to consider, but these are the most popular and the most widely referred to.
As a process, it can really take many shapes and it all depends on the referential system that it is used. Thus there are a lot of different philosophies revolving around this term and today people have undergone more and more research regarding it.
Some video game developer claim that it is the base from which any type of creation starting with the execution of furniture to even the way we live our lives, come from. That's why it is imperative before taking on a designing project to look around for everything that exists around us has a certain way it's been created and it can offer valuable ideas to those who know where and how to look.