Richard et all,
I'm an engineering designer/researcher, and this will bias my thoughts.
The quote strikes me as particularly systems-oriented in perspective.
Old school mechanical engineers don't talk so much about inputs and
outputs. New schools "systems folk" do. I find the systems perspective
*very* useful because if properly done it can help force us (engineers)
to think about function before form. And engineers are (arguably)
concerned primarily with function.
However, I think we could apply the systems perspective in other areas
too, so long as we recognise an engineering 'function' as being not
necessarily the same as a 'function' in some other area. I work with
industrial designers (and graphic designers and ...) sometimes, and I
have found that I can rephrase the basic premises of systems design to
suit disciplines other than engineering. For example, when designing
furniture from a ID perspective, I can accept the notion of the
aesthetic provided by a piece's shape as being 'functional' - the shape
implements the function of providing the aesthetic.
So while the whole input/output thing can be superficially be used in
engineering design, I think that at a deeper level the systems
perspective is one of those underlying themes in many other kinds of design.
...your mileage may vary. :-)
Cheers.
Fil Salustri
richard buchanan wrote:
> Folks,
> [...]
> Here is the quote again:
> [...]
> "It is the visual or schematic representation of this input-output
> conceptualization that definitely characterizes engineering design and
> allows it to proceed under the ideal of efficiency--that is, making choices
> between alternatives based on comparisons of input-output
> relationships--thus distinguishing it from other types of designing." (p.
> 228)
> [...]
> Dick
>
> Richard Buchanan
> Carnegie Mellon University
--
Prof. Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University Tel: 416/979-5000 x7749
350 Victoria St. Fax: 416/979-5265
Toronto, ON email: [log in to unmask]
M5B 2K3 Canada http://deed.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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