Roots of Military Design

“Design” is as ambiguous as a concept as it is pervasive as a practice. This chapter takes a “big history” approach to illustrate how humanity has used design, informally and formally, to realize advantages through its strategic use of imaginative, integrative thinking. Indeed, because the nature of design is expediency, skilled practitioners are particularly adept at navigating and nudging complex, “wicked” environments. Since security challenges may be the most complex and consequential of all human endeavors, the discipline of design—including its origin story and recent evolutions—is relevant to modern defense professionals.