Program design can aid problem-solving or decision-making tasks faced by evaluators. It can be used to facilitate evaluation planning through the definition of program boundaries and the generation and focusing of evaluation questions. Further, it can provide evaluation information about theoretical, historical, and political contexts of a program; about program components requiring further planning; and about current program operations. The program design document provides program personnel with both graphic and narrative accounts of the various components of a program at multiple levels. Finally, program design provides an evaluation standard against which to compare program performance. Examples of ways in which developing a formal program design yields information that can be used as evaluation information are provided. An appendix contains diagrams of program designs of two public school programs and summaries of three design levels for a program for gifted students. There is an eight-item list of references. (Author/SLD)