Design can have different connotations in different fields of application (see design disciplines below).
Design (as a verb: to design) is the intentional creation of a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process. Often it refers to the creation of something hitherto unseen, as opposed to mere planning of a known process, or preparing to copy existing objects.
Design (as a noun: a design) can refer to such a plan or specification (e.g. a drawing or other document) or to the created object, etc., and features of it such as aesthetic, functional, economic or socio-political.
The process of creating a design can be brief (a quick sketch) or lengthy and complicated, involving considerable research, negotiation, reflection, modelling, interactive adjustment and re-design. In some cases, the direct construction of an object without an explicit prior plan (such as in craftwork and some engineering, coding, and graphic design) is also considered to be a design activity.