A designer is someone who plans how something will look, work, or be organized before it gets made. Designers use creativity and problem-solving to shape everything from clothing and furniture to websites and buildings. A fashion designer sketches new styles of dresses or jackets, a graphic designer creates logos and posters, a software designer designs the visual identity for a website or app, and an industrial designer figures out how to make a toaster that's both attractive and easy to use.

Good designers think about appearance, function, and user experience together. They consider who will use what they're creating and what problems need solving. When an architect designs a school, she thinks about how students will move through hallways, where natural light will come in, and whether classrooms will be quiet enough for learning. When someone designs a new board game, they test whether the rules make sense and whether players will actually enjoy it.

The word can also be used as an adjective to describe products made by well-known designers, like designer jeans or designer sunglasses. These items typically cost more because of the designer's reputation and the special attention paid to style and quality. Sometimes people use “designer” to mean fancy or expensive, though the real meaning has more to do with thoughtful planning than price tags.