Understanding Engineering Design

This book is intended to be a guide or primer for all courses in Engineering Design, and provides an overview of the important issues in the field. Divided into three sections, the book first examines the social and economic environment in which engineering design takes place, then provides a critique of developments in design methodology since the 1960s, and finally describes design tools and how they can be used to implement design strategies in the context of the real design environment. Within each section, the individual chapters examine in detail one aspect of the subject, so that the complete book provides a broad range of perspectives on the nature of engineering design. Amongst the book's features are its focus on design in a business context, its examination of the role of information in design, and an in-depth description of design tools to de-mystify current terminology. Throughout, the book emphasizes the constraints in which designers must work, the links between design and innovation, the importance of information, and the care with which new ideas must be handled to ensure their successful introduction.