It May Be Engineering Design, but Is It Design?

Abstract

Houston Abstract Creative design is not taught in most engineering academic programs. The engineering design textbooks (and presumably engineering design classes) do a good job presenting analytical schemes for the systematic evaluation of design and linear design processes --both of which are necessary and appropriate for much of engineering design -- but they really have little to say about the creative, parallel processing necessary for design. It is suggested that engineering students and design faculty would benefit greatly from a good dose of creative design as practiced by our colleagues in the Arts. The paper will provide evidence of how two aspects of “creativity” are missing from most engineering