designer

/dɪˈzaɪnər/

/dɪˈzaɪnə/

Other forms: designers

A designer is a person who plans how something will look. An architect is a designer of buildings, drawing detailed blueprints indicating what the structures should look like and how they should be built.

The word designer came into English in the seventeenth century meaning "one who schemes." The word soon came to describe someone who figures out how something should look, especially something artistic. If you're reading a newspaper, a graphic designer planned how the text and images should look on each page. You might also be familiar with a fashion designer, someone who comes up with a vision for a garment and creates sketches to show what the finished product will look like.

Definitions of designer

1. noun

   someone who creates plans to be used in making something (such as buildings)
   synonyms: architect

   examples:

   Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto

   Finnish architect and designer of furniture (1898-1976)

   Robert Adam

   Scottish architect who designed many public buildings in England and Scotland (1728-1792)

   Leon Battista Alberti

   Italian architect and painter; pioneering theoretician of Renaissance architecture (1404-1472)

   Peter Behrens

   German architect known for his simple utilitarian factory buildings (1868-1940)

   Hendrik Petrus Berlage

   Dutch architect and town planner (1856-1934)

   Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

   Italian sculptor and architect of the baroque period in Italy; designed many churches and chapels and tombs and fountains (1598-1680)

   Donato d'Agnolo Bramante

   great Italian architect of the High Renaissance in Italy (1444-1514)

   Marcel Lajos Breuer

   United States architect (born in Hungary) who was associated with the Bauhaus in the 1920's (1902-1981)

   Filippo Brunelleschi

   Florentine architect who was the first great architect of the Italian Renaissance (1377-1446)

   Charles Bullfinch

   United States architect who designed the Capitol Building in Washington which served as a model for state capitols throughout the United States (1763-1844)

   Daniel Hudson Burnham

   United States architect who designed the first important skyscraper with a skeleton (1846-1912)

   William Butterfield

   English architect who designed many churches (1814-1900)

   John Merven Carrere

   United States architect who with his partner Thomas Hastings designed many important public buildings (1858-1911)

   Sir William Chambers

   English architect (1723-1796)

   Philibert de l'Orme

   French royal architect who built the Tuileries Palace and Gardens in Paris for Catherine de Medicis (1515-1570)

   Richard Buckminster Fuller

   United States architect who invented the geodesic dome (1895-1983)

   Jean Louis Charles Garnier

   French architect (1825-1898)

   Antonio Gaudi i Cornet

   Spanish architect who was a leading exponent of art nouveau in Europe (1852-1926)

   Cass Gilbert

   United States architect who influenced the development of the skyscraper (1859-1934)

   Giotto di Bondone

   Florentine painter who gave up the stiff Byzantine style and developed a more naturalistic style; considered the greatest Italian painter prior to the Renaissance (1267-1337)

   Walter Gropius

   United States architect (born in Germany) and founder of the Bauhaus school (1883-1969)

   Thomas Hastings

   United States architect who formed and important architectural firm with John Merven Carrere (1860-1929)

   Josef Hoffmann

   Austrian architect known for his use of rectilinear units (1870-1956)

   Victor Horta

   Belgian architect and leader in art nouveau architecture (1861-1947)

   Richard Morris Hunt

   United States architect (1827-1895)

   William Le Baron Jenny

   United States architect who designed the first skyscraper in which a metal skeleton was used (1832-1907)

   Inigo Jones

   one of the first great English architects and a theater designer (1573-1652)

   Louis Isadore Kahn

   United States architect (born in Estonia) (1901-1974)

   Henri Labrouste

   French architect who was among the first to use metal construction successfully (1801-1875)

   Benjamin Henry Latrobe

   United States architect (born in England) whose works include the chambers of the United States Congress and the Supreme Court; considered the first professional architect in the United States (1764-1820)

   Charles Edouard Jeanneret

   French architect (born in Switzerland) (1887-1965)

   Pierre Charles L'Enfant

   United States architect (born in France) who laid out the city plan for Washington (1754-1825)

   Leonardo da Vinci

   Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect; the most versatile genius of the Italian Renaissance (1452-1519)

   Maya Lin

   United States sculptor and architect whose public works include the memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War in Washington (born in 1959)

   Adolf Loos

   Austrian architect (1870-1933)

   Sir Edwin Landseer Luytens

   English architect who planned the city of New Delhi (1869-1944)

   Francois Mansart

   French architect who introduced the mansard roof (1598-1666)

   Charles Follen McKim

   United States neoclassical architect (1847-1909)

   Erich Mendelsohn

   German architect who migrated to Palestine in 1937 (1887-1953)

   Michelangelo Buonarroti

   Florentine sculptor and painter and architect; one of the outstanding figures of the Renaissance (1475-1564)

   Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

   United States architect (born in Germany) who built unornamented steel frame and glass skyscrapers (1886-1969)

   Robert Mills

   United States architect who was the presidentially appointed architect of Washington D.C. (1781-1855)

   Pier Luigi Nervi

   Italian architect who pioneered in the use of reinforced concrete (1891-1979)

   Andrea Palladio

   highly original and much imitated Italian architect (1508-1580)

   Sir Joseph Paxton

   English architect (1801-1865)

   Ieoh Ming Pei

   United States architect (born in China in 1917)

   Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin

   English architect who played a prominent role in the 19th century revival of Gothic architecture (1812-1852)

   Henry Hobson Richardson

   United States architect (1838-1886)

   Eero Saarinen

   United States architect (born in Finland) (1910-1961)

   Eliel Saarinen

   Finnish architect and city planner who moved to the United States in 1923; father of Eero Saarinen (1873-1950)

   Jacques Germain Soufflot

   French architect (1713-1780)

   Albert Speer

   German Nazi architect who worked for Hitler (1905-1981)

   Edward Durell Stone

   United States architect (1902-1978)

   William Strickland

   United States architect and student of Latrobe (1787-1854)

   Louis Henri Sullivan

   United States architect known for his steel framed skyscrapers and for coining the phrase `form follows function' (1856-1924)

   Kenzo Tange

   Japanese architect (born in 1913)

   William Thornton

   American architect (1759-1828)

   Richard Upjohn

   United States architect (born in England) (1802-1878)

   Sir John Vanbrigh

   English architect (1664-1726)

   Henri Clemens van de Velde

   Belgian architect (1863-1957)

   Robert Charles Venturi

   United States architect (born in 1925)

   Otto Wagner

   Austrian architect and pioneer of modern architecture (1841-1918)

   Stanford White

   United States architect (1853-1906)

   Sir Christopher Wren

   English architect who designed more than fifty London churches (1632-1723)

   Frank Lloyd Wright

   influential United States architect (1869-1959)

   James Wyatt

   English architect (1746-1813)

   types:

   landscape architect, landscape gardener, landscaper, landscapist

   someone who arranges features of the landscape or garden attractively

   Ithiel Town, Town

   United States architect who was noted for his design and construction of truss bridges (1784-1844)

   type of:

   creator

   a person who grows or makes or invents things
2. noun

   a person who specializes in designing architectural interiors and their furnishings
   synonyms: decorator, house decorator, interior decorator, interior designer, room decorator

   examples:

   Charles Eames

   United States designer noted for an innovative series of chairs (1907-1978)

   type of:

   specialiser, specialist, specializer

   an expert who is devoted to one occupation or branch of learning
3. noun

   someone who designs clothing
   synonyms: clothes designer, couturier, fashion designer

   examples:

   Cristobal Balenciaga

   Spanish fashion designer known for his stark elegant designs (1895-1972)

   Christian Dior

   French couturier whose first collection in 1947 created a style that became known as the New Look (1905-1957)

   Calvin Richard Klein

   United States fashion designer noted for understated fashions (born in 1942)

   Elsa Schiaparelli

   fashion designer born in Italy who was noted for her use of synthetic materials and brilliant colors (1896-1973)

   Gianni Versace

   Italian fashion designer (1946-1997)

   Charles Frederick Worth

   French couturier (born in England) regarded as the founder of Parisian haute couture; noted for introducing the bustle (1825-1895)

   types:

   costume designer, costumer, costumier

   someone who designs or supplies costumes (as for a play or masquerade)

   type of:

   creator

   a person who grows or makes or invents things
4. noun

   someone who specializes in graphic design
   synonyms: graphic designer

   type of:

   specialiser, specialist, specializer

   an expert who is devoted to one occupation or branch of learning
5. noun

   a person who devises plots or intrigues
   synonyms: intriguer

   type of:

   contriver, deviser, planner

   a person who makes plans