Utah State University
Utah State University: Optimization, an Important Stage of Engineering Design
Teaching middle and high school students how to weigh constraints and criteria against various design solutions in order to select the best possible solution is an important skill necessary for engineering, as well as for life. The...
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Synthesis Engineering Services: Optimizing the Design Process
This article discusses the design process from the concept phase to the production phase and what's involved in accomplishing this in the shortest possible time with the least cost.
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Engineering for Change: Necessary Trade Offs When Co Designing New Technology
The co-design of new technology with communities has benefits and trade-offs. Engineers Without Borders Australia describe a co-design project in rural Cambodia that they participated in. The goal was to design assistive technologies...
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Cad Crowd: How Do Engineers Evaluate Different Design Ideas?
Explains all the things that must be taken into consideration when engineers evaluate the soundness and viability of a particular design.
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Joining Dots: Why Design Means Compromise
In this blog article, the author talks about some of the trade-offs that must occur during the software design process with reference to an interview with Bill Buxton who was Principle Researcher at Microsoft Research at the time....
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Medium: Software Engineering: Software Process and Software Process Models
Understand the software process and software process models.
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Teecom: What Do We Mean by "Flexibility" in Design?
A technology consultant discusses what "flexibility" means in the context of design. He tries to understand what a client means when they say they want a flexible design. His goal is to come up with a design that focuses on the user. The...
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Oxo: Behind the Design of the New Oxo Pop Containers
This article describes the process by which an engineer at OXO looked at design, size, and variety when he redesigned OXO's line of POP containers.
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National Institute of Building Sciences: Whole Building Design Guide: Building Science Concepts
This resource page is the first of a series on relevant topics in building science. It is aimed at explaining the key concepts involved in building science, as well as the relationship of this discipline to the architecture / engineering...
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Mobile Spoon: Here's to Trade Offs and Compromises Your Product's Best Friends
This article discusses some of the different trade-offs and compromises that happen during a design process, for example, usability vs. appeal. Includes some examples from a home renovation and from technology features.
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Business Insider: How a Top Houseware Brand Reinvents Kitchen Gadgets
Founded in 1990, Oxo is beloved by design nerds for the way that the company takes everyday objects (like the salad spinner) and finds sometimes subtle, but always clever, ways to reinvent them. The designs are based on the principle of...
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Fast Company: Improving the Everyday: 8 Useful Objects That Need Fixing
Some designers offer their ideas about everyday objects that they think need to be improved, things like plastic furniture, the shopping cart, the clothesline, and a hammer and nail.
University of Wisconsin
The Why Files: On the Wing: Birds, Skeeters, Jet Planes
Evolution through natural selection governs the "design" of flying creatures. Engineers design flying machines. But flying is about physics, and physics is the ultimate arbiter of both processes, and that produces parallels in mechanical...
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E Gfi: No Toppling This Tower
Read and learn about Tokyo's 2080-foot Sky Tree, the world's largest broadcast tower built to sustain earthquakes. The information and photo are provided, but the video is no longer available.