Design as Conversation

A billboard, a street sign, a menu, a street, a car , a phone are all objects that are designed with words, icons and images.
Is design a conversation? or is a conversation just with words?

In everyday life the objects around us guide our conversations. Most don't think about a conversation and how it pertains to design. Not only are the objects designed but the placement of these objects, buildings and landscapes are designed as well.
So a better question to ask is when is design not a conversation?
I am not saying that design is everything but that design incorporates everything. So when conversing you may not even realize that you are talking about design.
Designers of all genres create conversations with their designs ranging from a statement about sustainability to the violation of a women like Yoko Ono's 'Cut Piece' to the simplicity of a writing implement. For me the term designer incorporates a wide variety of disciplines.

To go back to the question is conversation only with words, if this is correct then how are words incorporated in design? The common phrase is a picture is worth a thousand words but I think an affective design that is a conversation is an image, icon and design that can effectively incorporate the written word. These images to me are examples of designs that can be considered conversation. There are so many more components to this discussion of design as conversation that designers are exploring as you read this.

Now it is our turn to find our way of designing that effectively uses images, icons and words to create conversation through our designs.