4 ms·
Isn't the definition of engineering to use scientific principles to design and build things?
by gpcz 14y ago
Isn't the definition of engineering to use scientific principles to design and build things?
- lbotos 14y agoWhile your definition is accurate I think that engineering, by definition, ignores aesthetics. This is the differentiating factor that we are starting to see. The emotional aspect of design per se. You can usually tell when something was designed by an engineer or designed by a designer. (For better or worse.) This image from the Dash documentation tool homepage outlines my point: http://kapeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screenshot-16.png http://kapeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screenshot-16.p... I'd venture to say that this image was composed by an engineer.
- demian 14y agoEngineering is a hard thing to define, and the line between the definition of "engineering design" and plain "design" is a blurry one, but yes, that's what I meant. It's basically a question about the field of design -specifically the nature of the system/product/service to design- that determines the formation of the individual designer. There is a cultural dichotomy between science and art, specially in university. Engineers are "formed" as applied scientist, while designers are applied artists. One tends to reductionism, the other to holism. One tends to function, the other to form.