South Africa, Feb. 24 -- His response has stayed with me-he suggested that creativity has been toned down, making everything feel too similar.

Design has become too available, too easy, and as a result, experimentation and innovation have suffered.

So too has the knowledge of design history, theory, and practice deteriorated.

Just as everyone is a DJ today, anyone can be a designer. But can anyone be a noteworthy designer?

Mundanity in design

Instead of pushing the boundaries of form and substance, digital tools and virtual realities have created an imbalance-between craft and concept, theory and practice, observation and comprehension.

The result? A prolonged era of mundanity in design.

Which begs the question: Is design still thi...