This is NOT an April Fools’ Day meme article. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also, ignore the cat.
Everyone Can Teach You Something About Design: Lessons From the Amazon
As we sit on the shore of the Amazon River, watching the sun go down, we reflect on the time we have spent in Brazil and the things we learned. We learned about culture, the kindness of the people, the toll that 36 straight hours of travel takes on your body, and the dolphins that inhabit the river. One of the most important lessons we learned was that everyone can teach you something about design, and the importance of humility as a designer.
Getting a Patent the Hard Way
Good design jobs are fun and smart designers never stay more than 3 years on a program to avoid getting stuck in sustainment, which is fixing minor drawing and manufacturing issues down in the factory. That is of course, unless you are in law school, in which case, low stress sustainment is the way to go.
Good Design—The iPhone
The phone market in the United States is saturated with different brands of phones to meet the needs of consumers. However, one device seems to rule them all: the Apple iPhone.
The Risky Business of Design
If skateboard legend Tony Hawk were a design engineer, what do you think his design process would be? We suspect he would not settle for the obvious. Choosing a final concept during the design process can be challenging and risky. Teams generate many ideas during the concept development phase, and it can be difficult to select the best one. On rare occasions, choosing two concepts and taking them further into the design process at the same time is better than just choosing one.
What is Systems Design? Part 2
This article continues the discussion on “systems design” and introduces the system design spectrum that is useful to understand where and why multiple people use the word “system” in multiple ways.
Three Unexpected Tips for Writing Better Technical Papers
After you have done good technical work such as discovering something new, or developing a new technology, your goal in a technical paper is to share those findings with other people. This is not as easy as it sounds. In this article, I share three tips for refining your technical writing that you won’t find anywhere else, but that I am sure will make your writing more readable and trustworthy.
Ski Design for the Olympics
When designing a ski for the Olympics, you should know the precise conditions in which that ski will be used and design for those use cases. If not, a sub-optimal ski design will keep you off the podium.
Restraint—a Key to Design Success
Studying the concept art from season one of the Mandalorian, as featured in Phil Szostak’s book The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, is not only thrilling, but a testament to the power of practicing restraint in design.
What is Systems Design?
A lot of adjectives get placed before the noun “design.” This article starts tackling the special meaning and nuances when we use the term “systems design.”
Learn to Sketch: Shading and Shadowing Cylinders
Until recently, how to shade and shadow cylindrical objects has been a mystery to me. I had known there should be areas on the surface shaded lighter and others darker, but I didn’t quite know where those should be. Understanding the physics and practicing the sketches in a detailed way (a few times) helped me lock in the core concepts. Now I can sketch them quickly without trouble. This article shares the physics and provides a step-by-step process for skill building.
Optimizing vs Satisficing: Tips for Product Design and Designing Your Life
Should I optimize my choices or satisfice them? What is satisficing? Find out more about these choices in design and find out how you can become the best in the world at something.
Five Articles From 2021 You May Have Missed
Every year the design review staff decides on some of our favorite articles from the year that may have been overlooked or just didn’t quite make the top-ten most read articles. These are some great articles that will help you be a better designer.
Most Read Articles of 2021
As 2021 comes to a close, and we reflect on the list of the most read articles of the year we see articles as varied as the rollercoaster of 2021. We see articles about great designs, things to move your career forward, inspirational people, and lessons from history.
Design in Christmas Movies: Elf and the Forced Perspective
Have you seen the movie Elf? If not, you’re missing out on a good story with some neat applications of forced perspective. The designers of the film did some good design.
Year in Review of the BYU Design Review - 2021
We want to say thank you for being a part of the BDR community and supporting us! The BDR continues to grow and we hope to make the BDR even better in 2022 to help you be a better designer.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo’s Super Power
Discover six ways to emulate the world’s most respected video game designer. Whether you’re an engineer, and artist, a coder, or an entrepreneur, these universal designer attributes are sure to power up.
Scissors Design Competition Winners
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Second Annual BYU Design Review Competition! We had some great entries that solved a variety of different pain points for different types of scissor users. Without further ado, the winner is…
Christmas Gift Ideas for Design Engineers 2021
Welcome to the holidays! As exciting and festive a time of year this is, this time of year also heralds end of year reports, final exams and projects, and unforgiving deadlines. We hope this list inspires you to give the gift of creativity to a friend, associate, or family member.
The Tenth Face of Innovation: The Storyteller
The Tenth Face of Innovation is The Storyteller. Life is full of stories and being able to tell a good one can make all the difference in the world.