Although design is largely concerned with the future and what we’ll design it to be, it’s valuable to look to the past for inspiration and to quickly learn what might have taken decades for our predecessors to learn.
All in Inspiration & People
Human-Centered Engineering: A Conversation with Professor Nathan Johnson
Editors from the BYU Design Review recently sat down with Professor Nathan Johnson, an associate professor in The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, with research areas in global sustainability and systems engineering. Check out a few short passages taken from the interview.
Two Dramatically Different Approaches to Design: From the Art of Innovation
While the book, The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelly, is full of useful anecdotes, principles, and tips, there is one timeless principle that I wish more creative people knew and practiced – especially engineers. It’s related to seeking feedback.
Variety from Vermont and the Valley of Weird
Wildly different ideas, like those coming from Vermont (in the form of Senator Sanders), can be beneficial in designing anything from policies to products even if none of those ideas are ever implemented.
I Can Do Hard Things, but I Can’t Do All Things.
Stressed? Robert Juvinall’s book Stress, Strain, and Strength talks about how engineered parts hold up under pressure – but there are some interesting parallels that can put your stress in perspective and help you see that you can do hard things, but also that you can’t do all things.
The Wright Brothers and the Airplane - Five Attributes of Great Engineering Design
The Wright Brothers weren’t just in the right place at the right time - they deserved to be the first to fly by practicing key attributes.
The da Vinci in all of us
Five hundred years ago, in 1519, the remarkable life of Leonardo da Vinci came to an end. In commemorating him, it’s worth pausing from our regular day-to-day activities to think about…