What is the nature of design and the meaning it holds in human life? What does it mean to design well? To design ethically? How can the shaping of technology reflect our values as human beings? This talk explores how we shape technology and how technology shapes all of us in turn. Drawing from Ge Wang's new book on artful design and using music technology as a vehicle, we will examine everyday examples of design – tools, instruments, toys, games and social experiences – while breaking down the design of music programming languages, instruments for laptop orchestra, toy-like mobile phone apps like Ocarina, and social media. This will be a meditation on design for engineers, builders and anyone curious or concerned about shaping of technology – not only what it does for us, but also what it does to us.