What was design? is a quick starter to one of modernity’s most contested terms. In its brief but meteoric career, “design” was subject to vast controversy. Celebrated as an engine of change, denounced as a driving force of commercialization, and regularly lamented as overused, design remains a concept whose true meaning is still being sought. While answers to the question "What is design?” are constantly shifting, the time has come for a retrospective. This book looks back, presenting a century of design thinking in its most compact form: a collection of bold quotes.

What was design? pits 87 historical one-sentence answers from practitioners, theorists, and philosophers against one another. The result is a web of radical short-form definitions that remain strikingly contradictory in their references. This selection is accompanied by an essay from Florian Walzel, exploring the deeper reasons behind the conceptual ambiguity of design.

The publication will also be introduced in two upcoming events this April, extending the discussion into a shared, conversational setting. On Thursday, April 9, 2026, at 7 p.m., a book premiere & apéro will take place at open.form in Darmstadt (Rundeturmstr. 16, 64283 Darmstadt). A second presentation follows on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at Kulturraum B25 – Raum für kulturelle Fragen in Frankfurt-Höchst (Brüningstr. 25, 65929 Frankfurt am Main). Both evenings invite guests to engage with the question “What was design?” beyond the page — through exchange, reflection, and drinks.