Product Design vs. Engineering : A Reflection

When I went off to college years ago I went in with the intention of learning how to solve complex problems and how to make products that people will want to use. I stand here now with the same intention as my first week of online classes winds down. In college, it was Aerospace Engineering; today, its Product Design. From the outside the two don’t seem to be complimentary of one another but as I am finding out, through readings and projects, they may just be two sides of the same coin.

What makes a design good?

They always say the devil is in the details. For designers, the details are the product. For engineers, the details are the devil.

Engineers, like their humor, are very dry. They tend to see the problem and focus on the tangibles of a design, does the product do XYZ. For designers, the experience is the product. This means not only do products have to do what they intend, they have to do it in a way that is appealing to others. This is where the two fields differ the most.

Design Space

In engineering, you design around a given set of constraints which can come from an authoritative body, laws of nature, etc. vs. product design, where the constraints are singularly focused on the intended audience and their needs. The consumer is always right in product design but physics is always right in engineering.

Design Process

For both engineers and designers the process for creation is iterative based. In each field you start with a problem and work towards a solution. In both cases you must be open to outside ideas/critiques as you the designer have your own personal biases. The voices of others can help a great deal if you are stuck and need of ideas. One difference between the two fields are the problems being solved. Engineers design products for the future whereas designers it is often not worth the effort (or ROI) to solve future problems.

In summary, engineers and product designers create solutions. Both fields require attention to detail; the difference being which they focus on. Engineers are focused on pragmatics, does this thing accomplish its job in an efficient manner? Designers are focused on the experience, are people going to want to use my product over the competitors? Both equally challenging in their own right and require unique skills.