Design - is it always the creation of a new, or "rethinking" the old?

Question

Design

Good afternoon.
I look at a modern (beautiful) design - and it seems to me that this is something impossible, beyond the control of a person. How do they do it? What kind of extraordinary person do you have to be to sit down and come up with all this, draw it?
Or they take a ready-made one, change fonts, pictures - and voila!
Is design always a creation from scratch, or is it a refinement of an old one already invented by others? How do designers feel about "stealing"? (I saw the cover of a book called "Steal Like an Artist").

Answer 1

I look at a modern (beautiful) design - and it seems to me that this is something impossible, beyond the control of a person

Are you talking about "tiles" Windows 8 or Material on Android? :)
There is no consensus among people, some create, others steal, others use legally, fourth all of the above.

Answer 2

Good artists copy, great artists steal (Pablo Picasso)
You shouldn't take it literally, and here's why: there can be art where the design is beautiful, but there is no plot. Or vice versa. And what's wrong if you are into art, where a beautiful setting adds a great story, or add a beautiful setting to a great story? Borrowing in the fields of art is a common technique. Only if you copy - then you just get a good copy, and if you borrow and improve - then a great original!
Take good ideas and improve them!

Answer 3

Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams, and sewing patterns).