The text is intended to be used in either a junior or senior engineering
design course with an integrated hands-on design project. The whole text
is used in the senior capstone design course that includes a complete
design project, starting from selecting a market to creating a working
prototype.What is design? If you search the literature for an answer to
that question, you will find about as many definitions as there are
designs. Perhaps the reason is that the process of design is such a
common human experience. Webster's dictionary says that to design is "to
fashion after a plan," but that leaves out the essential fact that to
design is to create something that has never been. Certainly an
engineering designer practices design by that definition, but so does an
artist, a sculptor, a composer, a playwright, or any another creative
member of our society.Thus, although engineers are not the only people
who design things, it is true that the professional practice of
engineering is largely concerned with design; it is often said that
design is the essence of engineering.