US Department of Agriculture, CC-BY 2.0
In linguistics, metaphors are ‘a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable’ (Oxford English Dictionary). In design, metaphors are used to refer to familiar precedents from the world around us. The metaphor assists the transfer of what we know in one domain (the source) into another different domain (the target).
Continued on pages 56–57 of Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.