What is design? If you search the literature for an answer to that question, you will find about as many definitions as there are designs. Perhaps the reason is that the process of design is such a common human experience. Webster’s dictionary says that to design is “to fashion after a plan,” but that leaves out the essential fact that to design is to create something that has never been. Certainly an engineering designer practices design by that definition, but so does an artist, a sculptor, a composer, a playwright, or many another creative member of our society.
Thus, although engineers are not the only people who design things, it is true that the professional practice of engineering is largely concerned with design; it is often said that design is the essence of engineering. To design is to pull together something new or to arrange existing things in a new way to satisfy a recognized need of society. An elegant word for “pulling together” is synthesis . We shall adopt the following formal definition of design: “Design establishes and defines solutions to and pertinent structures for problems not solved before, or new solutions to problems which have previously been solved in a different way.” 1 The ability to design is both a science and an art. The science can be learned through techniques and methods to be covered in this text, but the art is best learned by doing design. It is for this reason that your design experience must involve some realistic project experience. The emphasis that we have given to the creation of new things in our introduction to design should not unduly alarm you. To become proficient in design is a perfectly attainable goal for an engineering student, but its attainment requires the guided experience that we intend this text to provide. Design should not be confused with discovery. Discovery is getting the first sight of, or the first knowledge of something, as when Columbus discovered America or Jack Kilby made the first microprocessor. We can discover what has already existed but has not been known before, but a design is the product of planning and work.
We should note that a design may or may not involve invention . To obtain a legal patent on an invention requires that the design be a step beyond the limits of the existing knowledge (beyond the state of the art). Some designs are truly inventive, but most are not. Look up the word design in a dictionary and you will find that it can be either a noun or a verb. One noun definition is “the form, parts, or details of something according to a plan,” as in the use of the word design in “My new design is ready for review.” A common definition of the word design as a verb is “to conceive or to form a plan for,” as in “I have to design three new models of the product for three different overseas markets.” Note that the verb form of design is also written as “designing.” Often the phrase “design process” is used to emphasize the use of the verb form of design. It is important to understand these differences and to use the word appropriately.
Good design requires both analysis and synthesis. Typically we approach complex problems like design by decomposing the problem into manageable parts. Because we need to understand how the part will perform in service, we must be able to calculate as much about the part’s expected behavior as possible before it exists in physical form by using the appropriate disciplines of science and engineering science and the necessary computational tools. This is called analysis . It usually involves the simplification of the real world through models. Synthesis involves the identification of the design elements that will comprise the product, its decomposition into parts, and the combination of the part solutions into a total workable system.
At your current stage in your engineering education you are much more familiar and comfortable with analysis. You have dealt with courses that were essentially disciplinary. For example, you were not expected to use thermodynamics and fluid mechanics in a course in mechanics of materials. The problems you worked in the course were selected to illustrate and reinforce the principles. If you could construct the appropriate model, you usually could solve the problem. Most of the input data and properties were given, and there usually was a correct answer to the problem. However, real-world problems rarely are that neat and circumscribed. The real problem that your design is expected to solve may not be readily apparent. You may need to draw on many technical disciplines (solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, electro magnetic theory, etc.) for the solution and usually on nonengineering disciplines as well (economics, finance, law, etc.). The input data may be fragmentary at best, and the scope of the project may be so huge that no individual can follow it all. If that is not difficult enough, usually the design must proceed under severe constraints of time and/or money. There may be major societal constraints imposed by environmental or energy regulations. Finally, in the typical design you rarely have a way of knowing the correct answer. Hopefully, your design works, but is it the best, most efficient design that could have been achieved under the conditions? Only time will tell.
We hope that this has given you some idea of the design process and the environment in which it occurs. One way to summarize the challenges presented by the design environment is to think of the four C’s of design. One thing that should be clear
The Four C’s of Design
1 Creativity
● Requires creation of something that has not existed before or has not existed in the designer’s mind before
2 Complexity
● Requires decisions on many variables and parameters
3 Choice
● Requires making choices between many possible solutions at all levels, from basic concepts to the smallest detail of shape
4 Compromise
● Requires balancing multiple and sometimes conflicting requirements
by now is how engineering design extends well beyond the boundaries of science. The expanded boundaries and responsibilities of engineering create almost unlimited opportunities for you. In your professional career you may have the opportunity to create dozens of designs and have the satisfaction of seeing them become working realities. “A scientist will be lucky if he makes one creative addition to human knowledge in his whole life, and many never do. A scientist can discover a new star but he cannot make one. He would have to ask an engineer to do it for him.”
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