engineering as design
Photo Credit: Biomedical Engineering students at UC Davis
Design is most commonly associated with art, color, forms, and ornamentation. However, because design is seen in all aspects of life, from the mattress that people sleep on to the toothbrush used every night, design is also an integral element in the technical arena. Most people view engineering as complex and mathematical, but those who work in this field should be considered as designers, as well.
For example, while developing a mechanism for those suffering from facial paralysis, a group of UC Davis students faced significant design problems. Their goal was to create a device that could be inserted into the patient’s eye to allow them to blink (See the article here). The importance of blinking is not usually brought to the attention of the general public, but without the ability to blink, the human eye cannot be lubricated, which often leads to blindness. Biomedical engineering students were faced with the obstacle of making a device small enough to be implanted into the facial structure while maintaining functional needs. The constraints set upon these students are very similar to the limits that designers need to overcome. Moreover, the blinking mechanism was created to solve a need, which is a goal that many industrial designers and architects also share. Both engineers and designers need to create solutions to certain constraints, in order to make improvements on particular issues, whether it be re-inventing the scissor or assisting those who aren’t able to blink. In this sense, engineers can also be considered designers.
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