Engineers are nothing if they are not Designers- How do we Design?

@ramani-VR4O43 • Oct 27, 2024

Oct 27, 2024

1.1K

Each engineer has done some designing or other some time. Some do it all the time?
But how do we do it?
I confess that I am a loner. For me it is a pass time. I may spend a lot of effort on designing something that may never get made. Quite often it does materialise when least expected.
There is no single answer. Certainly no single 'correct' answer.

How do CEans design?

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CE Designer

@ce-designer-BWq0yl • Oct 4, 2012
I use a basic design methodology.
- First I define my objective(s).
- Then its user research, product and patent searches too.
- Its good to read literature in the field of your product. Books, magazines and theses. This will comprise your literature review. Stay up-to-date on technology. VoiCE helps me alot here. 👍
- From all this research it becomes easier to develop different alternatives.
- Choose your best and then build a prototype.
- Evaluate its performance and make recommendations.
Very important here is your objective. Everything you do at each step must be a step to reaching your objective. Otherwise it is easy to stray and be misguided.
I usually try to push the envelope and think outside the box and challenge the old ways cuz lets face it i'm crazy and that's why i'm a CEan .
In my experience I find it best to work in a team when designing new products or redesigning an existing one. When working in a team it is very difficult to get people to think 'innovative'. You have to be a strong leader who can portray your vision of greatness!
With teams it is also very easy to stray so this is why i stress on firstly setting a clear defined objective.
With all said and done set deadlines. I believe in reasonable but not too reasonable deadlines.
Ramani Aswath

@ramani-VR4O43 • Oct 4, 2012

CE Designer
Very important here is your objective. Everything you do at each step must be a step to reaching your objective. Otherwise it is easy to stray and be misguided.

I usually try to push the envelope and think outside the box and challenge the old ways cuz lets face it i'm crazy and that's why i'm a CEan .

With all said and done set deadlines. I believe in reasonable but not too reasonable deadlines.
Good for you, CE D!
Jeffrey Arulraj

@jeffrey-xA7lUP • Oct 4, 2012
Well my approach is this
- Read about the basics of the stuff as much as possible
- Get the things streamlined first in head
- Design apt solution in head
- Simulate in simulators
- Testing can be really crucial and each and every response got is critical as the GREATEST DISCOVERIES ARE ACCIDENTAL
- Once I am satisfied I present it out as a paper some where
This not only is a boon but also a bane as I never jot things down till the last segment But it works fine for me till date so no probs
Being crazy is well defined a person like me
Ramani Aswath

@ramani-VR4O43 • Oct 4, 2012

The blogger referred to in the start seem to be correct. There seem to be more answers than the number of responders to this question.
Ramani Aswath

@ramani-VR4O43 • Oct 4, 2012

Well, bio-electronics will loom big in the future once you guys get seriously into bionic health care solutions.
sweet_honey

@sweet-honey-areuMs • Oct 4, 2012

To design something, first of all we should have the need of the product..
The main step starts from the need of the product than to the requirements to satisfy its function.
Also in designing, cost cutting is one of the important criteria. The best material in least cost with the nice aesthetics to make it eye catching for the customers.
Other points such as durability, strength, etc are also to be kept in mind while designing something new or re-designing a product.
Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Oct 4, 2012

Just a comment on 'VoiCE' - we tend to cover more engineering and technology these days over gadgets. So expect more unique stuff on VoiCE 😀 .

Coming back to the design thing - I think every engineer has to design no matter what. I'm an electrical engineer by education and after the 4 years of engineering education; I'm yet to design anything related to electrical engineering. But guess what? I've been associated with computers for a long time and believe I had an opportunity to design several things - including CE. It depends in what sense we're taking the 'design' part.

I believe that the best of the engineering work is done alone, not in groups. That's the reason the 'Gmail' (look at the sidebar) was created by one man and later adopted by the bigger company (Google). Same goes with the design of first computer by Steve Wozniak.
durga ch

@durga-TpX3gO • Oct 4, 2012

I generally end up writing functional flow chart , that clears my mind of any confusion.
Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Oct 4, 2012

durga
I generally end up writing functional flow chart , that clears my mind of any confusion.
Hmm, isn't designing a creative aspect of the engineer's life? Flow-charts helps managing things better, for sure.
Jeffrey Arulraj

@jeffrey-xA7lUP • Oct 4, 2012

People have different notions of designing stuff some pen it down some draw and others just imagine it out

But the main objective of them all is to design and they do it really well in their life

Be it a program or a machine or an innovation they end up designing one or the other
grsalvi

@grsalvi-7IhIh1 • Oct 5, 2012

It was a nice thread.
I read about Paul Buchheit who created gmail.He has mentioned that the email codes were scripted by him alone.Later when google hired him ,he added more features as per the objectives given to him and within a day GMAIL took birth.Interesting.😀
Henri

@henri-7eYVw8 • Oct 12, 2012

you are right..the main aspect of bieng an engineer is designing...which in the simplest of terms means to create a preview...again,,i think designing entails both invention and innivation...it is not neccesary that one comes up with something totally original..one can improve on the already made...hence making life easier...the sole purpose of an engineer...in order for one to 'design'...it depends on the discpline of engineering one is taking...but of cognisance is INSPIRATION....and this can be achieved by questioning the order of what one sees....for example:when the apple fell from the tree and hit the ground...it all boiled down to the question of WHY for Newton
Henri

@henri-7eYVw8 • Oct 12, 2012

just a q

The_Big_K
Just a comment on 'VoiCE' - we tend to cover more engineering and technology these days over gadgets. So expect more unique stuff on VoiCE 😀 .

Coming back to the design thing - I think every engineer has to design no matter what. I'm an electrical engineer by education and after the 4 years of engineering education; I'm yet to design anything related to electrical engineering. But guess what? I've been associated with computers for a long time and believe I had an opportunity to design several things - including CE. It depends in what sense we're taking the 'design' part.

I believe that the best of the engineering work is done alone, not in groups. That's the reason the 'Gmail' (look at the sidebar) was created by one man and later adopted by the bigger company (Google). Same goes with the design of first computer by Steve Wozniak.
a question that is a bit off mark....during your four years of studying electrical engineering,,what did you major on and why?...and how did you shift to computers and what did you major on in computers..I am intrested because i am persuing the same
Henri

@henri-7eYVw8 • Oct 12, 2012

The_Big_K
Just a comment on 'VoiCE' - we tend to cover more engineering and technology these days over gadgets. So expect more unique stuff on VoiCE 😀 .

Coming back to the design thing - I think every engineer has to design no matter what. I'm an electrical engineer by education and after the 4 years of engineering education; I'm yet to design anything related to electrical engineering. But guess what? I've been associated with computers for a long time and believe I had an opportunity to design several things - including CE. It depends in what sense we're taking the 'design' part.

I believe that the best of the engineering work is done alone, not in groups. That's the reason the 'Gmail' (look at the sidebar) was created by one man and later adopted by the bigger company (Google). Same goes with the design of first computer by Steve Wozniak.
and again,,the inventions in the voice field....i have officialy started thinking about it now...i believe i will come up with something...hehehe
CE Designer

@ce-designer-BWq0yl • Oct 12, 2012

The_Big_K
Just a comment on 'VoiCE' - we tend to cover more engineering and technology these days over gadgets. So expect more unique stuff on VoiCE 😀 .

I believe that the best of the engineering work is done alone, not in groups.
I love VoiCE so i am excited.
I agree with you, quality work gets done by yourself but some consultation should be outsourced at certain points throughout the design process to gain ideas and to prove/disapprove theories.
Jeffrey Arulraj

@jeffrey-xA7lUP • Oct 12, 2012

Hey #-Link-Snipped-# a new thread was created for planning what we plan can you help us in this
CE Designer

@ce-designer-BWq0yl • Oct 15, 2012

jeffrey samuel
Hey #-Link-Snipped-# a new thread was created for planning what we plan can you help us in this
Sure just tag me in the thread.