Pre-Reading
Pre-Reading Activity
Discuss the following questions with a partner.
- How are designers and engineers similar?
- Which is more important: how something looks or how it functions?
- Discuss a product you use every day.
- What is its function? What parts or components make it useful?
- How is it an example of both design and engineering?
Reading 1: Introduction [1]
Introduction
Much of the world around you is designed in some way. Modern living relies on the products, systems and services created to support how we live. Design comes from the ability to think creatively – to be able to imagine ‘what if …?’ and come up with something that didn’t exist before.
Some of the greatest human achievements have come from creative design engineering, allowing the realization of some truly remarkable changes in our world. Design engineering has helped to transform the environment, create incredible super-structures on land and sea, and even helped people travel to, and live in, space (Figure 1).
At the same time, some of the smallest designs have enabled the biggest steps in the progress of humanity. The way people live has been changed by incremental advances in medicine, food production and many of the materials and devices people use on a daily basis (Figure 2).
Design engineering has also developed many of the most important systems and services on individual, global, and universal scales. These systems have supported the expansion of human activity in a huge range of areas (Figure 3).
Design can be the fashionable, eye-catching products and images you probably think of. But design can also be the least noticeable (and often most important) services and systems. This chapter will introduce you to some characteristics and drivers for design, some of which you might not have come across before, and start to explore how data can be used to inform design decisions.
This chapter looks at the way in which engineers use design ideas and design thinking to inform their work. The complexity that people bring to design problems is introduced, along with some basic methods of dealing with such complexity.
Reading Comprehension
Read the statements. Put T for True or F for False. If the statement is false, correct the error to make the statement true.
- ______ Engineers always need to work with designers to be successful.
- ______ Design engineering is visible in our everyday lives.
- ______ Small innovations contribute to solving the world’s problems.
- ______ Design needs to be fashionable and beautiful.
Answer the questions in your own words.
- What do you think design engineering is?
- What was the purpose of this reading?
- Look at the Velcro example in Figure 2. How does it represent the cross-section of design and engineering?
- Explain one other contribution from the field of design engineering.
- What is a designed system?
- What will the next few readings from this chapter on design engineering discuss?
Vocabulary Practice
Complete the sentences below using the words in the box. You may need to change the verbs to fit.
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approach device distribution incremental standardize |
- Instead of completely redesigning the failing fashion line all at once, they tried to make _________________________ changes to the clothes.
- The _________________________ of income across society is not equal.
- The company _________________________ their production process so that their products met exact size specifications.
- His _________________________ to teaching was to question students rather than provide answers.
- The new _________________________ is capable of monitoring a person’s temperature, blood pressure, and pulse.
Read the paragraph, and notice the bold academic words. Then, match the bold words with their definitions below.
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Single-use plastics are a major contributor to ocean pollution, so companies are trying to develop disposable plastic goods that are more sustainable. Take “to-go” cups as an example, while some components might be recyclable, the plastic straws often end up in landfills. Some new companies are working to transform the simple plastic straw. For example, they’ve designed them out of metal which enables them to be used for years. A wide range of pollution is caused by plastics, and these simple innovations may be the first step to tackling the problem. |
- _________________________ (adj) made to be thrown away after a few uses
- _________________________ (v) to allow or encourage something to happen
- _________________________ (n) a collection of similar things, often grouped from lowest to highest
- _________________________ (v) to change dramatically
- _________________________ (n) a part or piece of a whole
Reading Discussion
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
- Would you be interested in taking an engineering class? Or a design engineering class?
- What product do you know of that is poorly engineered or poorly designed?
- What is the difference between poor engineering and poor design (if there is any)?
- Download the original, un-adapted version for free at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-technology/introduction-design-engineering/content-section-0?intro=1 ↵