Design Thinking in Engineering

Design is used to describe a process by which something is produced. A design is typically a detailed description or blueprint for the production of an item or system, the output of which is to be delivered for consummation or performance. The verb design also describes the act of producing a design, but in this sense it indicates that the process of design must be completed in the right order. Design can also mean the ability to design, which is the art of determining the visual aspects of things in so far as they are to meet some functional requirements.

Design is an important faculty and it is necessary to develop a good aptitude for it, since it is the medium through which we get to communicate and make things tangible. A good designer should be imaginative, visionary, and able to perceive and express ideas in formulating new and useful inventions, improvements and designs. Designers are called upon to design not only things but also ideas, since these are also things and become visible and tangible only through the process of designing.

Designing is an integrated process of artistic, technical, economic, social and psychological principles. It is a discipline of thinking about, conceptualizing, planning and implementing projects. Designing as a discipline of study originated from the French Revolution with the inception of the term pourposition. Today, in engineering, design thinking is known as human-centered design, because the human factor is predominant and it is the subject of the discipline of engineering design.