A good product is the result of a

good process.
+ +
What is design?
What is the Engineering Design Process?

Examples help

What tools are available?

The Engineering
Design Process
 Step 1: Need
• Have a need, have a customer
• External vs internal; Implied vs explicit
• Often stated as bigger, cheaper, faster,
lighter
 Step 2: Criteria & Constraints
“Design criteria are requirements you specify for your
design that will be used to make decisions about how to
build the product”
Aesthetics
Geometry
Physical Features
Performance
Inputs-Outputs
Use Environment
Usability
Reliability
 Some Design Constraints
• Cost
• Time
• Knowledge
• Legal, ethical
• Physical: size, weight, power, durability
• Natural, topography, climate, resources
• Company practices
 Step 3: Evaluate Alternatives

• Likely to find good alternatives for

cheapest, fastest, lightest, and encourage
discovery
• Research should reveal what has been
done
• Improve on what has been done
• Play alternatives off criteria and constraints
 Best Design
• Choose best design that meets criteria
• Demonstrate tradeoff analyses (among
criteria and constraints)
• Resist overbuilding; drives complexity,
cost, time, resources

A quality design meets customers expectations!

Concept Development Funnel

concept generation
concept screening
concept scoring
concept testing
Concept Selection Process
• Prepare the Matrix
– Criteria
– Reference Concept
– Weightings
• Rate Concepts
– Scale (+ – 0) or (1–5)
– Compare to Reference Concept or Values
• Rank Concepts
– Sum Weighted Scores
• Combine and Improve
– Remove Bad Features
– Combine Good Qualities
• Select Best Concept
– May Be More than One
– Beware of Average Concepts
• Reflect on the Process
– Continuous Improvement
 Example: Concept Screening
CONCEPT VARIANTS

SELECTION
CRITERIA
A B C D E F G REF.
Ease of Handling 0 0 – 0 0 – – 0
Ease of Use 0 – – 0 0 + 0 0
Number Readability 0 0 + 0 + 0 + 0
Dose Metering + + + + + 0 + 0
Load Handling 0 0 0 0 0 + 0 0
Manufacturing Ease + – – 0 0 – 0 0
Portability + + – – 0 – – 0
PLUSES 3 2 2 1 2 2 2
SAMES 4 3 1 5 5 2 3
MINUSES 0 2 4 1 0 3 2
NET 3 0 –2 0 2 –1 0
RANK 1 3 7 5 2 6 4
CONTINUE? Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
 Example: Concept Scoring
Concepts
A DF E G+
(reference)
Master Cylinder Lever Stop Swash Ring Dial Screw+

Weighted Weighted Weighted Weighted

Selection Criteria Weight Rating Score Rating Score Rating Score Rating Score

Ease of Handling 5% 3 0.15 3 0.15 4 0.2 4 0.2

Ease of Use 15% 3 0.45 4 0.6 4 0.6 3 0.45

Readability of Settings 10% 2 0.2 3 0.3 5 0.5 5 0.5

Dose Metering Accuracy 25% 3 0.75 3 0.75 2 0.5 3 0.75

Durability 15% 2 0.3 5 0.75 4 0.6 3 0.45

Ease of Manufacture 20% 3 0.6 3 0.6 2 0.4 2 0.4

Portability 10% 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3

Total Score 2.75 3.45 3.10 3.05

Rank 4 1 2 3

Continue? No Develop No No
Concept Selection Exercise:
Mechanical Pencils
 Retail Prices of Five Pencils

• Classic $2.75
• Quick Click $2.58
• Twist Erase $2.08
• Zézé $0.90
• Bic $0.33
 Remember…
The goal of concept selection is not to
• Select the best concept.

The goal of concept selection is to

• Develop the best concept.

So remember to combine and refine the

concepts to develop better ones!
 Step 4: Prototype
• Prototype is implementation of chosen
design alternative
• It is a proof of design, production and
suitability
• Prototypes are often cost prohibitive:
Models and simulations may suffice
 Why prototype?
• Interactive exploration with People cannot describe what
envisioned product they want, but they are quick to
recognize what they do not like!
• Clarifies vague
requirements with concrete
communication between
stakeholders
• Answers questions and
supports design decisions
with forced reflection
• Tests feasibility &
compatibility
• Sells product ideas
• Inspires innovation in
“prototyping cultures”
 Step 5: Test it Well

• Test and optimize design against

constraints and customer expectations.
• Test in the conditions of use
• Good test plan shows what test,
expected results how to test, and what
analyses will be.
 Activity: Light Bulb Test
Production assembly-time-demonstration

Robustness-vibration,
temperature-test
article
Life-hours-statistical sample
Duty cycle-count
on/off-prototype
Brightness-lumens-measure

Packaging-drop test-do last

Base fit-yes/no-first article demo

Step 6: Test and Redesign
 Test Results

Successful Test:
Satisfying

Test Failure:
Priceless
 Step 7: Documentation
• Project data book A complete record
All key decisions
Good drawings
Test plans
Results
Conclusions
Things learned
 Low vs. High Fidelity
Prototypes
• Low-Fi: Cheap to produce,
does not realistically simulate
the final product
Conceptual Design
• Hi-Fi: Increased similarity to
final product, possibly even
using the same “parts”
Physical Design
• Prototypes should shift
from Low-Fi to Hi-Fi as
project progresses
 Low-Fidelity
Prototyping
• Uses medium unlike the final product
(e.g. paper, cardboard)

• Quick, cheap and easy to modify

• Important early on to
encourage creative flexibility
and exploration of ideas
during conceptual design
 Sketchin
g
• Core skill for most low-fidelity prototyping
• Not about drawing ability! Simple symbols
• Cruder sketch will emphasize conceptual design
over superficial, physical design
 Storyboard
s
• Storyboards often used with scenarios, bringing detail and a
chance to role play

•Series of scene sketches showing user progression through

a task flow

•Series of screenshots illustrating use case

Checkout: Product List, Shipping, Payment, Confirmation
 Card-Based Prototypes
• Index cards, post-it notes, etc.
• Each represents one screen or section
• Often used in website development
• Facilitates stepping through elements
• Convenient to dynamically reorder work flow
 High-Fidelity
Prototyping
• Uses similar materials as and “looks like” final product
• Common high-fidelity software prototype environments
include Macromedia Director and Visual Basic with WYSIWYG
layout editors
• May include “real” code to demonstrate functions

Simulation or demo of final product to address feasibility and

physical design issues, but costlier to develop and can
confuse boundary between prototype and real product
 Horizontal vs. Vertical Prototypes
• Horizontal: Wide range with little detail (sales tool)
• Vertical: Much detail for few functions (incremental dev)

Product Item Product User

Search Checkout Recommendations Reviews

Full-Text Search Credit Card A.I. Ranking & Scoring Content

Index Authorization Management

Product Catalog Purchasing Tracking

DB Data
 Hi-Fi Compromises &
Dangers
•Software prototypes may have slow response,
sketchy icons, test halting bugs, etc.
•Long time to build  Developer resistance to
criticism and change
•Demos good for selling product ideas, but sets high
expectations 
•Users confuse demo promise with real product
•“Invisible” compromises: Hacked code, sloppy
engineering. Time to reengineer quality product 
developer pressured into recycling sloppy code
 Construction
• Creating whole product given prototype results
•‘Throw-away’ prototyping vs.
•Evolutionary prototyping

• Evolutionary prototyping is appealing, but planning

and quality must be attended to from the start!
Usability, reliability, robustness, maintainability,
integrity, portability, efficiency, etc.
 Physical Design
• Conceptual design abstractly describes
system’s intended behavior
– ATM should authenticate user ID and allow user to
withdraw cash on command
• Physical design addresses specific, concrete
layout and design issues
– ATM should have a card reader slot, a 10 digit
keypad for users to enter a PIN number, a touch
screen monitor with a menu of command options
and a mechanical reel for dispensing increments
of $20 bills
 Physical Design Guidelines
• Principles
– Abstract statements open to interpretation
– e.g., Maintain consistency, keep designs simple, support
user recognition vs. recall, etc.
– Mostly same principles reviewed in first half of the quarter
• Rules
– Specific statements, with no interpretations
– e.g., Menus should have no more than 8 options
• Style Guides and Standards
– Collections of principles and rules to achieve consistency
across applications. Good for corporate identity and
consistency.
– e.g., Windows or Mac style guides: File menu first, Help
menu last, etc. Standard icon for save, cut, copy, paste, etc.
– Useful to adopt ad hoc standards to meet user expectations
• Perspectives
– Interaction paradigms Review • Scenarios & prototypes
– Interaction modes to explore
– Metaphors Design, Conceptual &
Physical
User • Physical design Models &
Requirements guidelines Specifications

Evaluation & Prototyping &

Feedback Construction
Demos &
Products • Low-Fidelity
• High-Fidelity
– Vertical
– Horizontal
 Summary
• There two aspects to the design activity: conceptual design and
physical design
• Conceptual design develops model of what the product will do and how
it will behave while physical design specifies the details of the design
such as screen layout and menu structure
• We have explored three perspectives to help you develop conceptual
models: an interaction paradigm point of view, an interaction mode
point of view, and a metaphor point of view
• Scenarios and prototypes can be used effectively in conceptual design
to explore ideas
• Prototyping may be low fidelity (such as paper-based) or high fidelity
(such as software based)
• High-fidelity prototypes may be vertical or horizontal
• Low-fidelity prototypes are quick and easy to produce and modify and
are used in early stages of design
• We have discussed four areas of physical design: menu design, icon
design, screen design, and information display