The Design Synonym
Whether you’re an architect designing a new building or a fashion designer conceiving a runway collection, the design process is fundamental to any creative endeavor. The word design has several synonyms, including plan, blueprint, scheme, idea, and layout.
The words scheme and design have similar meanings, but scheme stresses the calculation of an end goal and may imply craftiness or self-interest.
Plan
The word design can be used as a synonym for many different words, including plot, project, and scheme. However, each of these words has a slightly different meaning. The word plan emphasizes mental formulation and sometimes graphic representation, while the word scheme suggests a particular pattern and some degree of achieved order or harmony.
To design means to prepare a preliminary sketch or plans of something, especially a work of art, an edifice, or a machine. It also means to conceive in the mind, or contrive for a definite purpose: He designed an intricate escape. To design can mean to fashion artistically or skillfully: He designed a beautiful bracelet.
Blueprint
The word design is a flexible one, with synonyms that include plan, scheme, idea, and concept. Each of these words emphasizes a different aspect of the process of designing something. A plan tends to focus on the structural aspects of a design, while a blueprint stresses the technical details.
a design may also refer to the organization or structure of formal elements in a work of art, or the arrangement of parts or separate actions to produce a result: The enemy’s encirclement was an elaborate design to surprise and overpower us. The design of the wing of an airplane focuses on how the wings move in relation to each other, and how those movements will produce lift and control.
Scheme
Scheme is similar to plan, blueprint, idea, and concept, but it carries different connotations. It is narrower in scope, referring only to a plan or system for accomplishing something. It can have negative connotations, suggesting deception or fraud. It is less common than design, and it may be used only in specific contexts, such as describing government programs or criminal activity.
While the words scheme and plan have much in common, scheme stresses calculation of the end goal in mind, while plan often suggests a particular pattern with some degree of achieved order or harmony. For this reason, it is better to use plan as a synonym for scheme in most situations.
Idea
A design is a plan for making or doing something or achieving an end. While the words plot, project and scheme have similar meanings, a design suggests a specific pattern and a degree of achieved order or harmony.
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus offers a wide range of synonyms for the word design, including concept, layout and idea. Each highlights a different aspect of the design process. Concept and layout, for example, apply to the visual arrangement of parts or the overall structure, while idea applies more broadly to mental formulation or graphic representation.
A person who’s designing often dreams of their own best interests, like the fashion designer Alejandro Alverez Rousteing, who refuses to let fast-fashion brands rip off his designs. Someone who is scheming, on the other hand, secretly plans to get what they want, even if it means cheating others.
Concept
The concept behind a design is the foundation that gives it emotional appeal, value and depth. It can also be used to describe features that add to a product’s functionality such as headphones designed to be lightweight and comfortable.
The word scheme can also be a good synonym for design, but it tends to suggest more imaginative scope than a plan. It’s also a better choice when talking about someone who schemes to get what they want, like a designing group member who secretly plans to cheat everyone out of their share of the work.
A related concept is skeuomorphism, which describes the use of design elements that resemble other materials or techniques. It’s a form of mimesis.
Layout
The word layout has several synonyms, including plan, blueprint, scheme, idea, and concept. While they all have the same general meaning, each one highlights a different aspect of the design process. For example, a plan emphasizes the structural or organizational aspects of a project, while a blueprint focuses on technical details. A scheme is more conceptual and artistic in nature, and an idea is broader in scope.
The layout of a room is important to the overall effect. For example, a bedroom needs to be well lit with ample windows. It also needs to be large enough to accommodate a bed and other furnishings.
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