Introduction to design

In this video, we have seen that the word design means different things to different people. In this course, we concentrate on engineering design.

The fields of engineering design are as diverse as the fields of engineering itself.

Engineering design is not a new discipline. People have been doing engineering design since antiquity though it was not known as such until modern times. One of the oldest design disciplines was architectural design and many of the buildings designed throughout history are still standing and astonishing us with their elegance, strength and colossal size.

Designing mechanical artefacts is also a very old practice, but historically designers of mechanical artefacts rarely made drawings of their designs since the task of making the artefact was the responsibility of the designers themselves. The use of proper drawings to describe designs can first be attributed to Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century.

Engineering design today

Today, engineering design is practiced in all fields of engineering. Some examples include:

• mechanical engineering
• electrical and electronic engineering
• software engineering
• civil engineering
• architectural engineering.

In addition, there are specialised fields of engineering within each of the general ones. For example, aircraft engineering is a specialised field of mechanical engineering and computer engineering is a specific field within electronic engineering.

There are also two very important branches of engineering that are crucial to the design of all artefacts that involve interaction between humans and machines. The first is called human factors engineering, also known as ergonomics, and is responsible for making sure that machines are comfortable to use. The second is called industrial design and is responsible for making sure that products are attractive and stylish.

Engineering fields combined

Many of the engineering products used today comprise mechanical, electronic and software engineering elements. For example, the modern car, which is mainly a mechanical artefact, has many electronic systems for monitoring the car’s mechanical systems such as the engine, the gearbox and the brakes. In addition, almost all modern cars have an Engine Control Unit (ECU) which is a miniaturised computer running complex software that optimises the performance of the engine – that is, providing maximum power and helping to reduce fuel consumption.

Another example of where fields of engineering combine is a relatively new branch of engineering known as mechatronics. In mechatronics engineers study systems that comprise mechanical, electronic and software elements and learn how to design these systems.

Summary

So, what does all this tell you? It tells you that today’s engineering designers need to have skills in more than one branch of engineering.