Design is

A definition of design from "Test Generation for VLSI Chips" [ieee press], :

"Design links the abstract specifications to the physical device through a synthesis or assembly of known parts and generates data necessary to drive the equipment that physically produces the assembly."

The first step in becoming a designer is learning how to use an assembly of known parts. The background necessary comes from the BSEE degree. The assignment of known forms, also a design function, comes next. I started with input-output drivers like everyone else. Then I learned how to design an inverter, a dissipative structure far from thermodynamic equilibrium.

We built each inverter from the transistors; none started life as a blank slate but almost. The level of design abstraction for circuit designers was the single MOSFET transistor.