TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 discussed the mind process of how we think, wonder, and decide when we solve problems. Design is one such problem. Depending on the level of the designer with his mind deep in the process of designing, a number of questions arise including the following:
Does designing mean just following samples that are already available?
Can we follow manuals (written procedures) to design? Or if we carefully search standards, can we find the answer?
Where do we start when we design?
What is the procedure for making a design?
How do we set the design goal? What are the free-to-set variables? Dependent variables? Constraints?
(When we look at a drawing,) how was each item designed?
(When we look at a product based on a design,) how were its shape and structure determined?
Questions come up one after another. Many of these relate directly to technology or science but most of them are questions about the act of design itself. When a student mimics design, he has a "sample" to follow. Modifying an existing design starts from a "former design." A design with an established method proceeds following a "design manual (procedure)." In these cases, it is easy to know where to start and how to complete the design. In creating something new, however, there is no sample, no former design, no manual. The designer has to produce everything for himself. In this situation, the most important thing to know is how decisions are made in...
