Meanings
present singular third person undesigns · participle present undesigning · participle past undesigned · past undesigned
- To reverse or fail to implement a design; to design something in a way that deliberately rejects the conventions of designing.
If there is a design in these actions, it is to undesign—to provide supplies for recirculation and recontextualization in which a new meaning may be found.
2010, Joel B. Altman, The Improbability of Othello, page 2151 more example
When not to design and when to undesign? When should we refuse to design something? Are there situations when the use of a particular technology, or even of any technology, is not beneficial?
Håkan Gulliksson, Pervasive Computing Design for Sustainability: 2nd Edition (page 518)
- uncountableThe act or process of deliberately undesigning.
1 more example
Although it may seem as if undesign calls for the elimination of discipline or intention, to the contrary, undesign thinking guides designers from any knowledge base or perspective to enact their crafts for the full diversity of product users, art viewers, space occupants, and so forth, rather than for creating and thus manipulating homogenous target groups.
2014, Elizabeth DePoy, Stephen Gilson, Branding and Designing Disability, page 224
Origin
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Cite this entry
undesign. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign
“undesign.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “undesign,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign.
Source: undesign on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.