[einhverfr]

I don't think there is such a thing as an iterative design. A design is a design as it exists at a single point. You iterate because the design has some issues that are worth addressing.

The nice thing about iterative development is you can build amazingly complex systems that way, systems that are so complex they have no obvious deficiencies. Of course that's also the not-so-nice thing about iterative development too. But either way iteration is a development process. It isn't something that is a design characteristic.

I do think however that good design is flexible. It tolerates changes on all sides. Users can repurpose it. Developers can improve on it. Good design is robust in that it handles these changes. If you want to use that to iterate the design, go ahead, but that's the design principle.