What Is Design?

Design is the art or action of producing a plan or drawing to show the look, function and workings of an object before it is made.

What is Product Design?

Product design is the process of efficient and effective idea generation and development with the goal of creating new products. Product design includes all the engineering and industrial design work that goes into developing a product from the initial concept to production, which ensures that it works reliably, is cost effective to manufacture and looks good.

What is Product Development?

Also called new product management, product development is the conceptualisation, design, development and marketing of newly created or newly rebranded goods.

Why is Product Design important?

The role of design is to create a marketable product from an innovation. Design is often the deciding factor in the success of a product. Many customers make purchasing decisions based primarily on product design, because good product design ensures quality, appearance, performance, ease of use, and reliability. Product design enables product differentiation and clearly communicates the function of the product to the user. Product design effects the maintenance and running costs and cost of production through the choice of materials and assembly methods (Design for Manufacture). It is vital for businesses to provide creative and innovative product design.

What is the Product Development Life Cycle?

New product development is a huge part of any manufacturing process. All products have a limited lifespan, because technology and fashion changes. New products need to be continuously developed to replace them. Thousands of new products go on sale every year, and manufacturers invest time, effort and money to make sure that their new products will be a success.

What is meant by the term Product Life Cycle?

Product life cycle (PLC) is the cycle through which every product goes through from introduction to withdrawal or eventual demise. These stages are:
1) Introduction: When the product is brought into the market, with heavy marketing activity and product promotion to create awareness.
2) Growth: Sales take off, profits begin to come in and market shares stabilise.
3) Maturity: Sales grow at slowing rates, products get differentiated, price wars and sales promotion become common.
4) Decline: Sales drop because the product is no longer relevant or useful.

What is Machine Design?

A machine is made up of mechanisms that work together. Mechanisms can be used independently, but a machine controls energy as well as motion and forces. Machine design includes defining goals and requirements, benchmarking, evaluating different options, creating an in-depth design, testing a prototype and manufacturing the machine.

What is Process Design?

Process design is the determination the workflow, equipment needs, and implementation requirements for a particular process. Flowcharting, process simulation software and scale models are typically used. Small changes in the design of a product can have profound changes on the method of production. Process design constrains the product design, and vice versa.

What is a Design Brief?

A design brief is a written document developed by the design team and their client detailing aims, objectives and milestones. It outlines the deliverables and scope of the design project including function and aesthetics of the products. Design briefs are used to keep the project on track and on budget and to evaluate the design after it has been produced. A good design brief develops understanding between the client and designer, and ensures that important design issues are considered before the designer starts work. It is much more likely that the designer will be able to produce something close to your aims if you write a detailed design brief.

Which factors affect good Design?

The design of a product includes the form, features, performance, conformance, durability, reliability, reparability and style. Design must evolve with time or your product risks becoming obsolete. A good designer will consider function, user, cost, production method, production volume, aesthetics, fashion, culture, ergonomics, materials and operational environment.

What is Mechanical Engineering?

Mechanical engineering is the discipline that applies engineering, physics, and materials science principles to design, analyse, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems, equipment and machinery. Mechanical engineering requires an understanding of mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity.

What is Electronics Engineering?

Electronics engineering is an electrical engineering discipline to design electronic circuits, devices, microprocessors, microcontrollers and other systems. Electrical engineers utilise passive electrical components based on printed circuit boards, and non-linear and active electrical components, such as semiconductor devices. Electronics engineers design and test circuits that use the electromagnetic properties of electrical components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes and transistors to achieve a particular functionality. Electronics engineering is the implementation of applications, principles and algorithms developed within solid-state physics, radio engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, and robotics. Analog electronics, digital electronics, consumer electronics, embedded systems and power electronics are all part of electronics engineering.

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