This article gives Michael Agar’s email responses to two questions put by Gavin Melles: "What are your thoughts on the advantages and dangers of developments in applied anthropology for ethnographic and anthropology practice?" and "What are your impressions of the potential and actual use of ethnography in design?" The responses open further questions regarding the assumptions involved in the methodology and application of design research, and the scope of "design" as a dynamic category extending beyond the production of objects for end-users to making change in social and environmental systems.