The Olympics are an amazing event everyone should enjoy. But the Olympics are also incredibly hard to design for and offer a couple of lessons we can all transfer to our other projects.
Design Thinking Part 1: Basic Concepts and Principles
Design Thinking is a powerful and popular topic, but it is also illusive and ill-defined. This article demystifies Design Thinking just enough so you can begin benefitting from what it offers. This is the first of a 5 part series on Design Thinking, where this first part provides basic definitions, view points, history, and Design Thinking exercises.
How Many Samples Do I Need? Determining Sample Size for Statistically Significant Results
Anyone who has designed anything -- whether that be a new medicine, a design method, or even a new recipe -- has faced the question: “Is this better than what I had before?” If you’re just deciding whether or not you like a new recipe, getting an answer is straightforward. If you are in an academic or industrial setting you must also answer an even more important question: “Can I prove that this is better?”
The Ninth Face of Innovation: The Caregiver
We don’t often think of Caregiving when it comes to design or engineering, but we should. This face of innovation can make the difference between an enjoyable experience with a product or process and a miserable one.
Ideation Techniques: Brainstorming
Ideation techniques are processes used to develop a variety of ideas that have the potential to be a solution to a problem or scenario. The purpose of these techniques are to determine the best solution that meets most, if not all, the required criteria. Brainstorming is probably the most common ideation technique and you have likely used it at least once even if you didn't know it.
Who Is Your Customer?
The customer matters. Our job is to get the customer what they want. We must interact with, listen to, and observe the customer to identify and understand their needs. But the notion of customer is significantly more complicated and important than it seems. This article breaks down and lists out the types of customers to consider when designing any product.
How NFTs Could Impact Designers
Will NFTs become mainstream someday? Will they impact engineers and designers? Only time will tell.
What I Learned From My Biggest Product Development Mistake
I have made a lot of mistakes over my time in product development. These range from small things like missing a dimension on a drawing, to sending the wrong paint code to a factory so a batch of new bikes were about to be painted like confetti. My biggest mistake was made early on in the development of my first product.
A Simple Hack for Completing Long-Term Projects
To be clear, there are many factors that lead to project success; attitude, knowledge, process, opportunity, resources, and more. This article gives one simple process technique that anyone can do. I chose this one because it has been a significant part of my process for the last 20 years and has been the foundation of my best work.
The Eighth Face of Innovation: The Set Designer
Most people agree that the environment can have a huge impact on our state of mind, productivity, and innovation. The Eighth Face of Innovation, The Set Designer, knows this too. Even if we aren’t setting up the spaces for others, we can and should be aware of where we’re are choosing to work and make sure that workspace is what we need to maximize our creativity.
Perpetual Motion and Design
I sat trying not to look as uncomfortable as I felt. Then he unveiled his invention. I already suspected what it was and now there was no doubt. I was looking at a perpetual motion machine.
Design the BYU Design Review Logo and Win a Prize
Design the BYU Design Review logo and win a prize! We are giving away a Cricut Joy cutting machine. It can cut your designs in over 50 materials. After being around for a year and a half, it’s time for the BYU Design Review to update its logo.
To the Graduating Class
As you transition from being a student to being a professional, consider latching on to the 5 professional attributes described in this article. They will distinguish you from your peers.
Casino Design Royale
If you find yourself in Las Vegas, whether you plan to gamble or not, don’t miss out on the opportunity to observe some design choices made by casinos that influence behavior. However, don’t forget those same behaviors can be manipulated outside of casinos too…
Good Design: Dodge Viper
A well-designed product seems to fill a gap in the market so perfectly that it almost has a sense of reverence about it. It just works; it just fits, and it plays a role in the consumer’s life that makes it worth fixing and cherishing. These are products like the iPod/iPhone, the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, the Swiss Army Knife, and in this designer’s opinion, the Dodge Viper.
Memegineering
We don’t always publish memes, but when we do, it’s on April Fool’s day. Celebrate April Fool’s Day with some of our favorite engineering memes!
Realizing that you're Good Enough
An engineering student shares his thoughts and experiences about mental health.
Graham Wallas: The Creative Process
Graham Wallas proposed one of the first formal models of the creative process. Simple and insightful, this model has continued to inspire creative people throughout the world. This article reduces Wallas’s description of that process to just a few paragraphs designed to introduce you to this model.
Design in Data Figures: Multi-Axis Figures
Multi-Axis Figures can be powerful in telling a story, but there are some real pitfalls that we see people fall into time and time again. Be careful and know the mistakes that others have made in order to keep your data figures well designed.
Designing Sailboats to go 60 mph
America’s Cup is one of the most interesting sporting events in the world, from a design perspective. No, it isn’t the hardest-hitting sport, and the boats don’t reach Formula 1 speeds. The interesting part is that the winner gets to make the rules, and set the location for the next competition.