Design and the Designer
Design and engineering, although sometimes viewed as distinct, are two facets of the same profession. Krick [1.1] states that engineering is a profession concerned pri¬marily with the application of a certain body of knowledge, set of skills, and point of view in the creation of devices, structures, and processes used to transform resources to forms which satisfy the needs of society.
Design is the activity in which engineers accomplish the preceding task, usually by responding to a design imperative for the required task. The design imperative is the result of a problem definition and has the following general form [1.2]: “Design (subject to certain problem-solving constraints) a component, system or process that will perform a specified task (subject to certain solution constraints) optimally.”
The end result of the engineering design process is a specification set from which a machine, process, or system may be built and operated to meet the original need.