How exactly is what decorators and stylists do different from what designers do?
Take graphic design; generally it’s superficial, it’s decoration, styling.
Other design disciplines are more profound, deep; they concern many levels and dimensions and aspects of whatever it is that is designed; design is the process, not merely something done at the end, after the fact.
In superficial design, it’s pointless to talk about the ‘needs’ of the recipient. It’s not about function, it’s all form. You already have a product, and superficial design is about decorating it, giving it a style, or just applying conventions, standards – the common style, what everyone expect.
In profound design, design shapes the product, gives it features unthought of at the conception. Function and form is one, they have co-evolved.