Sign, Design, Communication - Principia Designae: Pre-Design, Design, and Post-Design - page 36

Therefore, the design as well as the sign must be studied under 'grammatology.'

1. The design (the designed mark-system) works apart from the intention or
purpose of the designer, from the receiver, and from the context or the situation
where formerly designed. It can function without any original motives or
circumstances.
2. The design can break with every given context, engendering an infinity of new
contexts in a manner that is illimitable. The context always opens to another and
does not close—it cannot be wholly described.
3. The design has the possibilities of iterability. It has logical possibilities to
transform into different functions from the original intention. It can function in
another way, and any attempt to normalize it will fail because of the openness of
the field. Designing is to sign or mark that which has an iterable structure.
Originality can and does coexist with repeatability as iterability.
4. The design has power to produce or transform a context and to force us to read,
act, communicate, or use. Conversely, the design is the reification of

communication.
5. As a secondary effect, the design has a force to build a social relationship or
communication in which we have responsibility. However, because of an
iterable structure, the social communication does not reveal itself; rather, reveals
only one facet of the design. The design should not conceal iterable function.

References

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