A collection of editorials, interviews, and commentaries on engineering design
articles
Shorts
Discover how water treatment engineering transforms raw water into clean, safe supplies through strategic design decisions, balancing influent variability, system reliability, regulatory compliance, and lifecycle costs for communities worldwide.
Discover how ergonomic design enhances efficiency, health, and productivity. Explore key applications across workstations, office furniture, software UI/UX, manual tools, and AI-driven personalized manufacturing for modern engineering solutions.
Discover how ski manufacturer Elan turns a simple piece of wood into world-class performance by applying three essential engineering design principles: relentless innovation, sustainable manufacturing, and extreme precision.
Discover how Dr. Cammy Peterson is bridging industry and academia to advance UAV path-planning, decentralized drone swarms, and autonomous tech for extreme, real-world environments.
Discover how looking to the past drives modern design. Learn three key innovation lessons from engineer James C. Scullin: build on existing ideas, serve real users, and combine smart thinking with hard work.
Tethered bottle caps in Europe reduce litter, but they frustrate users. This shift highlights a fundamental design dilemma: balancing environmental responsibility against user experience, manufacturing costs, and competing stakeholder priorities.
Discover how European tilt and turn windows combine mechanical ingenuity and thermal efficiency, revealing how local culture, architecture, and manufacturing priorities shape everyday hardware design across borders.
Eli Whitney invented more than the cotton gin. Discover how his bold gamble on interchangeable parts revolutionized manufacturing and laid the foundation for the modern industrial revolution.
Explore how the Embrace infant warmer provides a low-cost, portable solution for premature babies in resource-limited regions, demonstrating how engineering design can save lives and serve humanity.
Explore Saudi Arabia’s Falcon’s Flight, the world’s tallest roller coaster, showcasing how ambitious engineering and tourism investments are diversifying the nation’s oil-dependent economy.
Explore how Canada’s Confederation Bridge overcomes harsh ice and navigation challenges through intelligent engineering, featuring unique conical ice shields and curved designs to ensure long-term driver safety.
Explore the aviation rivalry between the Wright brothers and Alberto Santos-Dumont. Did Brazil’s national hero achieve the first true powered flight with his 14-Bis in 1906?
Explore Rudolf Diesel’s enduring impact, from his vision of accessible power to the global engine legacy that remains a cornerstone of modern industry.
Discover how the International Space Station uses modular design and global collaboration to unite nations and advance science for the benefit of humanity.
Quarterly Featured Article
April to June 2026 - The PlayPump: Lessons Learned from a Design Failure
Analyze the history of the PlayPump design failure in this article. Learn how overlooking product misuse, vague problem definitions, and inadequate testing transformed a humanitarian dream into a cautionary tale.
EDITOR’S COMMENT
Insight (6/7) – Sharp evaluation of a famous social-impact failure through classic design principles. Flow (5/5) – Excellent narrative pacing that bridges humanitarian goals with mechanical realities. Impact (5/5) – Delivers essential lessons in niche product design. Visuals (3/3) – Integrates clear technical diagrams and field photography that capture the human element.
This article by Caleb Jenkins is a compelling case study on how enthusiasm and novelty can mask critical design flaws. By cataloguing the poor design decisions, he outlines a crucial roadmap for designers to avoid the same mistakes and actually capitalize on enthuasiasm.
Short Courses
Hot Topics
Analyze the X-Wing’s iconic evolution through design principles, from pub-dart inspiration to multi-generational iterations, revealing why this starfighter remains a sci-fi masterpiece.
Explore the social science of engineering memes. From sleep deprivation to coding struggles, we analyze what truly makes engineers laugh.
Explore the design mastery of Cadbury Mini Eggs. From the psychology of seasonal scarcity to their iconic speckled aesthetic, discover how thoughtful design transforms this simple candy into an Easter staple.
Mastering the art of writing requires balancing audience intent, AI-driven searchability, and the delicate mix of timely relevance and timeless value to ensure your message resonates.
Boost the impact of your professional writing! Learn how formatting and syntax are critical to capturing attention and reducing reader distractions. Follow style guides, master emphasis (use italics and bold, not underlines), and refine sentence structure for clarity and influence.
Elevate your professional and academic influence with effective writing. Learn the four pillars of writing — narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive — to communicate with clarity and purpose. Discover how strong writing, even in STEM fields, sets you apart by showcasing your competence and personality.
Culture and People
Academics
Maximize your summer break through internships, SMART personal projects, and outdoor balance. Set yourself up for success this upcoming semester.
Harness the power of AI to transform your study habits. Learn how to use artificial intelligence ethically for brainstorming, outlining, summarizing, and editing to achieve academic success.
Some things are better shown than said. Professor Chris Mattson explains that a portfolio doesn't just claim you have skills—it makes them obvious through compelling, visual evidence. For engineers, a strong design portfolio can become one of the most powerful tools in your early career.
Discover how Dr. Cammy Peterson is bridging industry and academia to advance UAV path-planning, decentralized drone swarms, and autonomous tech for extreme, real-world environments.
Discover how looking to the past drives modern design. Learn three key innovation lessons from engineer James C. Scullin: build on existing ideas, serve real users, and combine smart thinking with hard work.
Explore Ralph Ziman’s Weapons of Mass Production project, where decommissioned MiG-21s and Casspirs are transformed into beaded masterpieces to confront history, provide employment, and inspire impactful design.
Popular Reads
Mission Belt vs. Groove Belt: discover how these modern designs innovate on the classic belt. Explore the Mission Belt's micro-adjust ratchet and the Groove Belt's simple magnetic buckle with authors John Salmon and Dylan Conover.
Rick Rubin's philosophy from The Creative Act offers a mindful approach to engineering design, seeing awareness, listening, and constraint as keys to clarity in product development.
Published in 2015, Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk offers a fascinating look at the tech mogul’s early successes. Rereading it today reveals how his methods, from maniacal attention to detail to an unwavering worldview, continue to drive his companies forward.
Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo… this is the NATO phonetic alphabet. What made this design so enduring that it survived the analog age, and the onset and proliferation of the digital age? Why was this design so universal that it is used throughout the world with only minor regional adaptations?
Welcome to Autumn! The Fall is the season for trees changing their colors, warmer jackets, and career fairs. Don’t miss out on learning about, and preparing for, an important step that can set you up for an amazing career.
Editor’s Pick
Learn to Sketch: Part 1
Lenses to Interpret the Visual Form of Products and Why it Matters
Articles on Ideation
Nintendo’s release of the Switch 2, an upgraded version of its predecessor, shows how refining a product is critical to making good designs better. Nicholas Hardman write how the Switch 2's design improvements, like its bigger size, magnetic controllers, and additional charging port, showcase how small changes can significantly enhance a user's experience and improve a product's success.
This article presents an idea that has high influenced my way of thinking about design. The article is centered on ideation and focuses primarily on how to do it well. It introduces the concept of design space, design exploration, and the trade off curve.
Submit a short essay to the BYU Design Review and compete for cash prizes! If you’ve ever used a product (very likely) and wanted to make it better in some way, you already have an idea for your essay to write! Submit by March 30th, 2024.
In engineering we frequently have questions to which we’d like practical answers to keep us moving forward. If a simple prototype will do, don’t forget to look in your pocket, your home, your lab, your hobbies, or just down the street.
It sounded like I was trying to find sources for plagiarizing answers. But I was genuinely concerned—if the internet is just some depository of mediocre thinking, where on earth was I supposed to go to find good ideas? She looked startled that I asked the question, but one millisecond later she gave me an answer that changed my life…
I hope to show in a Ratatouille fashion that “anyone can [create]” given practice and the right environment.
Engineers, scientists, and designers all gather data and then try to make sense of it later. We have equations and models to help us simulate this data. But we also have a problem – these tools were designed for numerical data, and not all data is solely quantitative. Affinity mapping is an abductive reasoning process that enables people to make sense of large amounts of subjective, qualitative, or observational data.
Objective brainstorming feedback is hard to find. Most people will accept whatever ideas get thrown up and move on. But not us! We are intelligent citizens of the design community who want to get better at brainstorming! What resources are out there to help us improve our ideation practice?
Customer feedback at the time would have dictated that Henry Ford should just breed stronger and faster horses since no one had even thought of the automobile and the motor engine. However, we now know what is used in regard to travel and farm work nowadays, and it does not like carrots as a snack.
Ideation techniques are processes used to develop a variety of ideas that have the potential to be a solution to a problem or scenario. The purpose of these techniques are to determine the best solution that meets most, if not all, the required criteria. Brainstorming is probably the most common ideation technique and you have likely used it at least once even if you didn't know it.
Graham Wallas proposed one of the first formal models of the creative process. Simple and insightful, this model has continued to inspire creative people throughout the world. This article reduces Wallas’s description of that process to just a few paragraphs designed to introduce you to this model.
Conceptual design is the early part of the design process, which is often envisioned with post-it covered walls, smart interdisciplinary teams, and concept sketching. Conceptual design is full of energy and optimism. Until it is not. In this article I give a few tips – centered on the ancient philosophy of yin and yang – that help me keep conceptual design full of energy and optimizing the whole time.
If you think your design will be “right/good/complete/perfect” after just one cycle of creation, you’ll be disappointed and frustrated. It won’t be right, it probably won’t even be good. If you accept that iteration is a normal, healthy, and expected part of the design process, your love for, and competency in, designing things will skyrocket.
There are an infinite number of possible designs. How can designers choose the right combination of materials, geometries, and processes to achieve the best outcome?
Wildly different ideas, like those coming from Vermont (in the form of Senator Sanders), can be beneficial in designing anything from policies to products even if none of those ideas are ever implemented.
Articles in a Series
Mastering the art of writing requires balancing audience intent, AI-driven searchability, and the delicate mix of timely relevance and timeless value to ensure your message resonates.
Boost the impact of your professional writing! Learn how formatting and syntax are critical to capturing attention and reducing reader distractions. Follow style guides, master emphasis (use italics and bold, not underlines), and refine sentence structure for clarity and influence.
Elevate your professional and academic influence with effective writing. Learn the four pillars of writing — narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive — to communicate with clarity and purpose. Discover how strong writing, even in STEM fields, sets you apart by showcasing your competence and personality.
In this second part on optimization, the basics of the genetic algorithm are explored and explained, with an introduction to selection, cross-over, and mutation.
This article continues the discussion on “systems design” and introduces the system design spectrum that is useful to understand where and why multiple people use the word “system” in multiple ways.
The Tenth Face of Innovation is The Storyteller. Life is full of stories and being able to tell a good one can make all the difference in the world.
We don’t often think of Caregiving when it comes to design or engineering, but we should. This face of innovation can make the difference between an enjoyable experience with a product or process and a miserable one.
Most people agree that the environment can have a huge impact on our state of mind, productivity, and innovation. The Eighth Face of Innovation, The Set Designer, knows this too. Even if we aren’t setting up the spaces for others, we can and should be aware of where we’re are choosing to work and make sure that workspace is what we need to maximize our creativity.
Multi-Axis Figures can be powerful in telling a story, but there are some real pitfalls that we see people fall into time and time again. Be careful and know the mistakes that others have made in order to keep your data figures well designed.
The experience of your product is more important than your product. Is that a deep thought by Jack Handy or a true principle?
Billions of people use mathematics everyday, arithmetic to multivariable calculus. This has become a paradox that I have spent time thinking about – math is certainly useful, yet why is it so hard to explain or show students how it can be useful to them?
Because we have so much information at our fingertips via smart devices and the internet many students complain at having to learn (especially memorize) anything. The common response by students is that this is a waste of time and that these things can always be looked up in the future. Well they certainly can. That isn’t the point I am debating. The problem is that you can only look up things that you know you don’t know.
Directors bring their own set of experiences, styles, and personality to the studio but they all concurrently support the show’s mission and want to make a great product. Thus, an organization or team can have multiple directors even if there still is team leader (or executive movie producer on set). You might not be the leader on your design engineering team but there may still be opportunities to take on the role of Director.
Have you ever zoomed in on an image and it was so pixelated you couldn’t read or understand anything? Have you ever had an email get stuck behind a filter because your figures or images were too big in terms of file size? If any of that sounds familiar, you might be using the wrong kind of images or figures.
Never heard of the data-to-not-data ratio in figures? It’s a good thing to know and consider. This is one article in a series of techniques and practices for designing good figures and visualizations.
Everyone needs collaborators to be successful in design, engineering, and life! Even the lone artist, scientist, and author eventually need collaborators to critique, distribute, buy, or share their work, regardless of how many hours are spent in isolation. Find out what Tom Kelley shares about being a Collaborator - the fifth face of innovation.
Hurdlers are people who find a way around, under, and often over an obstacle directly in their path. Find out what Tom Kelley shares about being a Hurdler - the fourth face of innovation.
The right scale can make all the difference in the world when it comes to appropriate data figures. This is one article in a series of techniques and practices for designing good figures and visualizations.
Communication with data figures can be a large part of design. This is the beginning of a series of techniques and practices for designing good figures and visualizations.
There are clear benefits of knowing a little about a lot (i.e. breadth) and there are clear advantages of knowing a lot about a little (i.e. depth). Of course, it’s better to know a lot about a lot, but that’s unquestionably difficult to achieve. Cross-Pollinators are generally classified in the former category (breadth) although they often have at least one domain of expertise too.
The second face of innovation as described by Tom Kelley is the Experimenter. It is no surprise that individuals identifying themselves as an Experimenter, will employ testing and prototyping more than any other of the ten faces of innovation. All of us have moments when we act as an Experimenter but some of us might be perennial Experimenters.
A designer in the role of an Anthropologist will take the time to really learn about the customer and everything that impacts the customer. Learn about Tom Kelley’s first face of innovation - The Anthropologist.
There is a time and a place for being a devil's advocate, but those moments can stifle innovation, hurt feelings, and cut off dialogue if not preformed in an acceptable way.
Versus Articles
Mission Belt vs. Groove Belt: discover how these modern designs innovate on the classic belt. Explore the Mission Belt's micro-adjust ratchet and the Groove Belt's simple magnetic buckle with authors John Salmon and Dylan Conover.
Discover which reusable water bottle reigns supreme. Learn from Emelia’s analysis as she compares Stanley Quencher and Owala FreeSip designs, insulation, and features to help you choose your perfect hydration companion.
Engineering and Design are two very similar designs when it comes to product creation. Andrew Cousins explores the division between the two fields and offers some ideas on how to be a more well-rounded problem solver.
Customer feedback at the time would have dictated that Henry Ford should just breed stronger and faster horses since no one had even thought of the automobile and the motor engine. However, we now know what is used in regard to travel and farm work nowadays, and it does not like carrots as a snack.
Actuarial risks can be quantified or measured. Perceived risks are felt when the outcome of a risk is negative, catastrophic, or involuntary. Learn how this applies to public opinion of nuclear power and think about how this could apply to your design work.
There are two general types of tests that can be done to observe the design’s strengths and weaknesses. They are called verification tests and validation tests. The differences between these tests can be confusing because the words seem and sound similar, and because some people use them interchangeably without thinking deeply about what they mean. This article describes the difference between them.
Have you ever zoomed in on an image and it was so pixelated you couldn’t read or understand anything? Have you ever had an email get stuck behind a filter because your figures or images were too big in terms of file size? If any of that sounds familiar, you might be using the wrong kind of images or figures.
The right scale can make all the difference in the world when it comes to appropriate data figures. This is one article in a series of techniques and practices for designing good figures and visualizations.
Articles on Careers and Professionalism
Explore the historical evolution of citation styles, from religious glosses to the Chicago Manual of Style, and discover how these specific academic formats transformed from simple attribution into complex requirements.
Transform stressful design reviews into productive sessions. Learn how to focus on critical unknowns using forty essential questions to improve performance, reliability, and manufacturing outcomes.
Discover how Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto revolutionizes complex tasks. Learn to design simple, effective checklists that reduce errors, improve team collaboration, and ensure precision in engineering and professional workflows.
Mastering the art of writing requires balancing audience intent, AI-driven searchability, and the delicate mix of timely relevance and timeless value to ensure your message resonates.
As the first step in the design-thinking process, empathy is a vital starting place for any effective piece of technical communication. And yet, it is (quite ironically) frequently misunderstood.
Discover why Onshape is the premier CAD technology for design. Explore its version history, cloud-native collaboration, fast learning curve, and streamlined workspace organization.
Learn how to write and format an effective memo with our guide on technical formatting for the workplace, including a discussion of headers, the inverted pyramid body structure, and essential writing tips.
Boost your engineering career with Tony Jewkes! Learn to use LinkedIn as a powerful, keyword-optimized portfolio for discoverability. Tap into your university's influential alumni network to build professional connections and land internships and jobs.
Boost the impact of your professional writing! Learn how formatting and syntax are critical to capturing attention and reducing reader distractions. Follow style guides, master emphasis (use italics and bold, not underlines), and refine sentence structure for clarity and influence.
Elevate your professional and academic influence with effective writing. Learn the four pillars of writing — narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive — to communicate with clarity and purpose. Discover how strong writing, even in STEM fields, sets you apart by showcasing your competence and personality.
Unlock meaningful innovation with design thinking and empathy. Learn how to use clustering to organize raw, human-centered data, uncover hidden insights, and avoid common biases. Discover the history of this powerful technique, from the KJ Method to modern affinity diagramming, and see how it can reframe problems to create truly impactful solutions.
Discover the dangers of overfitting in engineering design and everyday life! From "lucky" paperclips and Thanos's flawed logic to Clippy's demise, learn how optimizing too narrowly can lead to unexpected failures. Mark McDonald reveals why robust solutions require simplification and real-world validation, avoiding the perils of over-optimization.
Learn from Dr. David Parsi as he discusses his research on overcoming technical challenges in reconfigurable radio frequency instruments. He emphasizes core engineering principles such as intuition, strategic experimentation, and efficient research methodologies.
Not all leadership is by designated leaders. Learn to demonstrate grassroots leadership throughout your career using good character, integrity, effective communication, and collaborative problem solving.
From very prominent and obvious choices to the very small and seemingly inconsequential choices, design is everywhere. In this article, learn about what other people may conclude (correct or not) about you and the quality of your work based solely on the way you name your files.
Emelia Sunday was able to tour the Westinghouse nuclear fuel production facility and meet some engineers. She shares select questions from her interview with Guirong Pan, a nuclear engineer, and learned some useful things we should all know.
I visited 21 design firms and asked their designers and engineers what they thought about documentation. This is what I learned.
Even though the world is moving fast and perhaps even accelerating, it doesn’t mean we can’t be slow in certain ways. Becoming a slow student may be exactly what we need to do to stay at our peak performance in this fast paced world we live in.
It was well after midnight, when one of the engineers woke violently from his sleep. He and a fellow engineer had wired the rocket motor firing circuit that evening, and through a miracle, he now realized that he had installed the two wires to the circuit BACKWARDS.
The job search is a lot like a game. The challenge is to figure out the rules of the game and then to come up with a winning strategy.
In this article, I share direct quotes from six of Templar’s rules of work. These rules are all centered on one of the book’s ten themes: “Act One Step Ahead”. If you are going to move up in the company you have to practice the “mannerisms, attitudes, and managerial traits of the position above the one you currently hold. If you already look as if you’ve been promoted, chances are you will be.”
Attending conferences can be nerve racking and exhausting, but they are also exciting and inspiring. When I started my PhD, I thought I would be able to go to many conferences, but a pandemic had other plans. I found myself only attending one in-person conference during my program. With only one chance at an in person conference, I knew I needed to make the most of it.
Professionals use abbreviations and acronyms all the time in their communication. Come up to speed on over 60 Product Development abbreviations defined in this article.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started my internship, and I was very nervous, so I wanted to share with you eight tips to help you succeed in your own internship.
Good design jobs are fun and smart designers never stay more than 3 years on a program to avoid getting stuck in sustainment, which is fixing minor drawing and manufacturing issues down in the factory. That is of course, unless you are in law school, in which case, low stress sustainment is the way to go.
After you have done good technical work such as discovering something new, or developing a new technology, your goal in a technical paper is to share those findings with other people. This is not as easy as it sounds. In this article, I share three tips for refining your technical writing that you won’t find anywhere else, but that I am sure will make your writing more readable and trustworthy.
The Tenth Face of Innovation is The Storyteller. Life is full of stories and being able to tell a good one can make all the difference in the world.
“Follow your Passion.” Is that good advice or not? Like most things, the answer might be a little more complicated.
Welcome to Autumn! The Fall is the season for trees changing their colors, warmer jackets, and career fairs. Don’t miss out on learning about, and preparing for, an important step that can set you up for an amazing career.
To be clear, there are many factors that lead to project success; attitude, knowledge, process, opportunity, resources, and more. This article gives one simple process technique that anyone can do. I chose this one because it has been a significant part of my process for the last 20 years and has been the foundation of my best work.
Articles on Prototyping
Learn from Dr. David Parsi as he discusses his research on overcoming technical challenges in reconfigurable radio frequency instruments. He emphasizes core engineering principles such as intuition, strategic experimentation, and efficient research methodologies.
Magnets seem magical, but we don't have to be wizards to use them. Read about tips, suggestions, and practical advice on how to include and use magnets in your next design project for some amazing results.
Many people either know about origami, have seen others fold origami, or have folded it themselves, but very few people can translate origami crease patterns into 3D objects and designs. That skill is necessary to take origami from a hobby to an engineering tool. I want to push your origami knowledge and exposure just a little deeper and go beyond the paper pattern. Specifically, after reading this article, you’ll be able to make an origami tessellation pattern out of materials thicker than paper.
In engineering we frequently have questions to which we’d like practical answers to keep us moving forward. If a simple prototype will do, don’t forget to look in your pocket, your home, your lab, your hobbies, or just down the street.
Have you been asked to make a prototype, or feel like you should be doing more prototyping, but you’re not quite sure why, or not quite sure how to get the most out of prototyping? This article presents 4 reasons designers make prototypes. Understanding these reasons and mapping them onto your project will unlock the power of prototypes and speed up your development efforts.
I’ve come to learn is that the prototyping stage can (and should) belong at the very beginning of the design process. This article will focus on the role that early prototyping – specifically paper prototyping – can play in developing strong designs.
Origami is an ancient Japanese art form which had its roots over a thousand years ago in ancient Japan. Only in the last century’s intellectual revolution has it transformed into a more scientific and fully developed art form. We can see origami under scrutiny as an art form, and as a scientific and mathematical method of design. In any design, it is important to see from both angles.
If skateboard legend Tony Hawk were a design engineer, what do you think his design process would be? We suspect he would not settle for the obvious. Choosing a final concept during the design process can be challenging and risky. Teams generate many ideas during the concept development phase, and it can be difficult to select the best one. On rare occasions, choosing two concepts and taking them further into the design process at the same time is better than just choosing one.
Filament is the heart of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing. The filament is fed into the extruder, heated, and deposited in specific locations layer by layer, eventually giving rise to a functional part that could be used for anything from validating a new design to repairing a Tesla.
Articles on Artificial Intelligence
Explore why AI is a tool, not a replacement, for designers. This article argues that while automation handles execution, true design requires human empathy, purpose, and the "finite existence" to care.
Are we nearing an AI winter? Learn about the Gartner Hype Cycle's Trough of Disillusionment, the stage after the peak of inflated expectations where reality tempers the utopian promises of Artificial Intelligence.
Harness the power of AI to transform your study habits. Learn how to use artificial intelligence ethically for brainstorming, outlining, summarizing, and editing to achieve academic success.
Discover the dangers of overfitting in engineering design and everyday life! From "lucky" paperclips and Thanos's flawed logic to Clippy's demise, learn how optimizing too narrowly can lead to unexpected failures. Mark McDonald reveals why robust solutions require simplification and real-world validation, avoiding the perils of over-optimization.
BYU's Capstone Program reveals how thoughtful design transforms ideas into impactful realities. Learn 14 principles for product designers to create solutions that exceed expectations, from decoding customer needs and embracing systems thinking to iterating early, guarding against scope creep, and designing for manufacturability.
Imagine a world where designers and AI work hand in hand, pushing creative boundaries and optimizing workflows. That future is already here. AI is not a replacement for human ingenuity—it’s a tool that amplifies it, and those who master it will shape the next era of design.
Have you thought about how AI will affect your design work? I’m excited for the ways that AI can facilitate product realization work, and in this article I describe why.
In a spurt of spontaneity, I found myself at BYU’s Cougar Skate event a few weeks back. I’d never been rink skating before, but my previous experiences with inline and ice skating left me with enough confidence that I didn’t look up any tutorials before heading for the Wilkinson Student Center. Though, I think my tailbone would’ve thanked me if I had.
On January 24th, 2023 we asked ChatGPT to be a guest author of the BYU Design Review. This week we discuss the experiment and how ChatGPT performed. If you’ve somehow missed hearing about ChatGPT, here is another chance to learn about a new technology that might become a part of our everyday lives.
ChatGPT is taking over the world!… Or is it? Here is the first article on the BYU Design Review written entirely by an artificial intelligence. No edits were made by a human of any kind. What do you think? Impressive or Over-hyped?
Holiday Articles
Rethinking familiar objects, Sharper Image’s RC American Flag Rover Cooler balances utility and novelty, transforming a traditional cooler into an engaging summer experience.
A Christmas Carol expertly uses contrast — Scrooge and Tiny Tim, three Ghosts, inside and outside— to convey moral meaning, a powerful design principle for impact and attraction.
Discover good design lessons from A Christmas Story. Analyze movie features like the leg lamp and practical effects for better product design.
Unsure of what to purchase this holiday season for the design engineer in your life? Here are some excellent ideas to get you started!
Don't suffer through dry turkey this Thanksgiving! Learn clever design solutions—like spatchcocking, brining, and deep frying—to cook a perfectly moist and juicy bird every time.
Unlock the surprising design history of trick-or-treating. From ancient rituals to suburban planning and trunk-or-treat, discover how design shapes America's favorite Halloween tradition and its future evolution.
Learn how to design and craft your own piñata—a vibrant centerpiece for any gathering. Discover the rich history of this tradition, from its symbolic 7-point star to modern, fun designs. Follow this step-by-step guide to create a stunning piñata that’s sure to bring joy to your next celebration!
It’s Christmas Season! Read about The Nightmare Before Christmas and why it’s a great movie with some unique and impressive design elements.
If you’re gift shopping for someone you know who is a designer or an engineer, this article is for you. (And if you are that designer or engineer, this article is definitely for you!)
Happy Halloween! Take a look at this year’s Halloween article where Emelia Sunday shares some thoughts on how the engineering design process can help you create your own Halloween costume.
It’s now December and we’re entering “the most wonderful time of the year.” It’s also time for my annual analysis of a Christmas movie. Today I want to share some interesting facts and thoughts about The Polar Express. I’ll also share lessons I believe we as designers can take from this movie.
The holidays are coming up, and it’s time for our fourth annual gift list for design engineers!
How does Halloween connect to design? Let’s turn our attention to the intersection of tradition and design. As tradition has affected the celebration of Halloween, so too has tradition affected design practices.
If you’re shopping for a designer or an engineer, this article is for you. If you are a designer or an engineer, this article is also for you.
I learned the hard way that carving a jack-o-lantern takes dedication and planning. I’ve learned a few more lessons from pumpkin carving since then and, in the spirit of Halloween, I’ll share those with you today.
Have you seen the movie Elf? If not, you’re missing out on a good story with some neat applications of forced perspective. The designers of the film did some good design.
Welcome to the holidays! As exciting and festive a time of year this is, this time of year also heralds end of year reports, final exams and projects, and unforgiving deadlines. We hope this list inspires you to give the gift of creativity to a friend, associate, or family member.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a classic. Fun for kids. Fun for Engineers. Fun for Designers.
Ever thought about the design of Kevin’s booby traps in Home Alone? Consider these critiques before you choose how to defend your home this Christmas…
Articles on Creativity
Discover how reading fuels innovation by expanding your mental toolkit. Learn why diverse books are essential for engineers, designers, and creative thinkers.
Creativity and exploration are essential parts of design, but in engineering, they should be grounded in purpose. Without a defined problem to solve, designs risk being ineffective, unused, or even wasteful.
It sounded like I was trying to find sources for plagiarizing answers. But I was genuinely concerned—if the internet is just some depository of mediocre thinking, where on earth was I supposed to go to find good ideas? She looked startled that I asked the question, but one millisecond later she gave me an answer that changed my life…
I hope to show in a Ratatouille fashion that “anyone can [create]” given practice and the right environment.
We challenged dozens of BYU engineering students to design LEGO Architecture-style models of BYU buildings; here you’ll see some of the many outstanding designs that were created. If you’re a current BYU student, an alumnus, or have ever visited the BYU campus, we hope these designs bring back great memories.
Graham Wallas proposed one of the first formal models of the creative process. Simple and insightful, this model has continued to inspire creative people throughout the world. This article reduces Wallas’s description of that process to just a few paragraphs designed to introduce you to this model.
The creation of the LEGO Unit was not only a meaningful piece of LEGO history but rather a fundamental player in modern LEGO design culture. It’s no surprise the market loves this toy. It’s proven so by buying more than 600 billion bricks produced to date. Enough for every person on the planet to have 81 pieces.
Just because you are an engineer, it doesn’t mean you should discard being creative. Check out three ways you can combine both and embrace that creative engineer.
Articles on Innovation
Discover how looking to the past drives modern design. Learn three key innovation lessons from engineer James C. Scullin: build on existing ideas, serve real users, and combine smart thinking with hard work.
Eli Whitney invented more than the cotton gin. Discover how his bold gamble on interchangeable parts revolutionized manufacturing and laid the foundation for the modern industrial revolution.
Explore the rise and fall of the PlayPump in this analysis of design failure. Learn how overlooking product misuse, vague problem definitions, and inadequate testing transformed a humanitarian dream into a cautionary tale.
Explore how the Embrace infant warmer provides a low-cost, portable solution for premature babies in resource-limited regions, demonstrating how engineering design can save lives and serve humanity.
Explore the aviation rivalry between the Wright brothers and Alberto Santos-Dumont. Did Brazil’s national hero achieve the first true powered flight with his 14-Bis in 1906?
Explore with Dr. Benjamin Terry how ASML, Boston Dynamics, and SpaceX are ending decades of physical stagnation, ushering in a new era of engineering innovation across the universe of atoms.
Explore the brilliant design of Giving Machines. Learn how the charitable vending kiosks maximize accessibility, transparency, and public visibility for donations.
Explore the impact of good zipper design in products like jackets, tents, and backpacks. Learn about materials, sizing, and key design choices for improved user experience.
Are we nearing an AI winter? Learn about the Gartner Hype Cycle's Trough of Disillusionment, the stage after the peak of inflated expectations where reality tempers the utopian promises of Artificial Intelligence.
Summer is a time for relaxing but it doesn't mean it's a time to stop exploring innovation. Learn about some good designs that we discovered over the summer of 2025, from beautiful lotus boardwalks and excellent french toast to heatless curls and 3D printing.
"How Might We" (HMW) statements transform ambiguous problems into clear, opportunity-driven starting points for design. When crafted well, they inspire creativity and focus ideation. This article by Christ Mattson breaks down how engineers can leverage HMW statements to effectively reframe challenges and unlock innovative solutions.
Explore the science and engineering behind captivating fireworks displays. From their historical origins to cutting-edge innovations, learn how customizable shells create the brilliant colors, sounds, and patterns that light up our celebrations.
Learn from Dr. David Parsi as he discusses his research on overcoming technical challenges in reconfigurable radio frequency instruments. He emphasizes core engineering principles such as intuition, strategic experimentation, and efficient research methodologies.
Customer feedback at the time would have dictated that Henry Ford should just breed stronger and faster horses since no one had even thought of the automobile and the motor engine. However, we now know what is used in regard to travel and farm work nowadays, and it does not like carrots as a snack.
Many people have asked if it is possible to become an engineer without a degree. When we pose this question to Google, we get more than 30 million results in response to this question. Answers ranged from a solid no to multiple sites listing jobs in engineering that don’t require a degree. In reality, it depends on the field, the job, and often where you live. To learn more about this path to engineering, we decided to interview a successful business-owner and self-taught engineer to get his take on this topic.
Hurdlers are people who find a way around, under, and often over an obstacle directly in their path. Find out what Tom Kelley shares about being a Hurdler - the fourth face of innovation.
While the book, The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelly, is full of useful anecdotes, principles, and tips, there is one timeless principle that I wish more creative people knew and practiced – especially engineers. It’s related to seeking feedback.
There are clear benefits of knowing a little about a lot (i.e. breadth) and there are clear advantages of knowing a lot about a little (i.e. depth). Of course, it’s better to know a lot about a lot, but that’s unquestionably difficult to achieve. Cross-Pollinators are generally classified in the former category (breadth) although they often have at least one domain of expertise too.
The second face of innovation as described by Tom Kelley is the Experimenter. It is no surprise that individuals identifying themselves as an Experimenter, will employ testing and prototyping more than any other of the ten faces of innovation. All of us have moments when we act as an Experimenter but some of us might be perennial Experimenters.
A designer in the role of an Anthropologist will take the time to really learn about the customer and everything that impacts the customer. Learn about Tom Kelley’s first face of innovation - The Anthropologist.
Have you ever wondered, “when am I going to have a breakthrough idea?” If so, then maybe the better question to ask is “what am I doing to come up with that idea?”
The Hype Cycle is a high-level model of the trajectory many technologies experience before full adoption by a group, an organization, or society. It hasn't been demonstrated to exist scientifically but it can be useful as an abstract tool to discuss the perceived progress of technology.
There is a time and a place for being a devil's advocate, but those moments can stifle innovation, hurt feelings, and cut off dialogue if not preformed in an acceptable way.
Articles on Aviation
Explore how the tragic midair failures of the De Havilland Comet taught engineers crucial lessons about stress concentration, leading to the rounded windows on modern airliners.
Discover how aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan revolutionized aircraft engineering through organic architecture, asymmetric design, and bold experimentation, leaving an indelible legacy of innovation far beyond the industry status quo.
Analyze the X-Wing’s iconic evolution through design principles, from pub-dart inspiration to multi-generational iterations, revealing why this starfighter remains a sci-fi masterpiece.
Explore the aviation rivalry between the Wright brothers and Alberto Santos-Dumont. Did Brazil’s national hero achieve the first true powered flight with his 14-Bis in 1906?
Flight! People have wondered about it since the beginning of time. Paul MacCready was one of those people deeply interested in flight. What follows is a story of Paul MacCready, and what we can learn from him in the engineering design process.
The F-22 Raptor is an amazing engineering aircraft and can teach some amazing design lessons. In this article, you'll learn about some of the most poignant lessons from Larry Howell's experience working on an early version and prototype of the F-22, designated the YF-22.
Meme Articles
Explore the social science of engineering memes. From sleep deprivation to coding struggles, we analyze what truly makes engineers laugh.
We raided the engineering first aid kit to help one of our editorial board members deal with the stress of work and finals, but all we found were these memes. Happy April Fools Day from the BYU Design Review!
We should all find an excuse to laugh now and then. The BYU Design Review is not pranking you today, but we did think it timely to take a break from our normal content and bring some smiles to our readers’ faces.
Engineering can be hard… but it’s harder when you aren’t laughing. Happy April Fool’s Day!
This is NOT an April Fools’ Day meme article. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also, ignore the cat.
We don’t always publish memes, but when we do, it’s on April Fool’s day. Celebrate April Fool’s Day with some of our favorite engineering memes!
Take a break from all the bad news (and jokes today) and read…. more jokes! Happy April Fools Day!
Articles on Optimization
Discover the dangers of overfitting in engineering design and everyday life! From "lucky" paperclips and Thanos's flawed logic to Clippy's demise, learn how optimizing too narrowly can lead to unexpected failures. Mark McDonald reveals why robust solutions require simplification and real-world validation, avoiding the perils of over-optimization.
In this second part on optimization, the basics of the genetic algorithm are explored and explained, with an introduction to selection, cross-over, and mutation.
I see optimization all around. But while spending time in nature, I find its expression most beautiful and abundant. Let’s go on a hike together and talk about optimization.
When I came to BYU, I wanted to be the best at something. It didn’t matter what, so long as I was better at it than anyone else at the university. I wasn’t going to be the best juggler at BYU, I was going to be the best joggler at BYU, juggling and jogging at the same time. And I think I did it. Out of everyone I have ever talked to, I am the only one who can run an 8-minute mile while juggling three balls.
Should I optimize my choices or satisfice them? What is satisficing? Find out more about these choices in design and find out how you can become the best in the world at something.
Articles on Teamwork
Dr. Nathan Usevitch and his team of students have entered NASA's BIG Idea Challenge competition! Learn about their extraordinary robot and principles of design from this dedicated group of engineers in this article.
I am often inspired by design triumphs in history, but there is one design that has particularly influenced me. It is a humble design: an odometer made from wood for covered wagons that was never put into mass production. Part of what makes it interesting is that it was done under harsh conditions with the goal to help other people and it would become a legendary part of an epic exodus and the settlement of the Western United States.
Anyone who has designed anything -- whether that be a new medicine, a design method, or even a new recipe -- has faced the question: “Is this better than what I had before?” If you’re just deciding whether or not you like a new recipe, getting an answer is straightforward. If you are in an academic or industrial setting you must also answer an even more important question: “Can I prove that this is better?”
It was my design versus Eric’s. I was confident though; the engineering analysis favored my design. Plus and I was the project lead, and the choice was mine. What could go wrong?
Thank you for being a part of the BYU Design Review! Here are some highlights as we look back at 2019.
There are a lot of reasons to seek a unanimous decision. We do it all the time to be or feel united, avoid hard feelings, increase buy-in, etc. But when the stakes are higher, and the decisions are more complicated and multi-dimensional, the last thing you want is full consensus early on in the decision-making process.
Almost all product development is done in a team setting, owing largely to the strongly held belief that the collective thinking of a group outperforms that of “the lone genius."
There is a time and a place for being a devil's advocate, but those moments can stifle innovation, hurt feelings, and cut off dialogue if not preformed in an acceptable way.
“Explained” Articles
Explore how hypersonic design is redefining modern warfare and aerospace engineering. From scramjet propulsion to advanced refractory materials, discover the challenges of Mach 5 flight and its future impact on civilian travel.
Explore the evolution of haptic feedback from pagers to modern smartphones. This article examines the mechanical engineering of ERM, LRA, and piezo actuators in creating sophisticated tactile notifications.
Explore the evolution and physics of touchscreen technology, from 1960s prototypes to modern capacitive and infrared sensors. Discover how these interfaces work and what the future of touchless interaction holds.
Learn how to write and format an effective memo with our guide on technical formatting for the workplace, including a discussion of headers, the inverted pyramid body structure, and essential writing tips.
Explore how photography bridges the gap between the technical and artistic. It's a powerful tool for showcasing innovations, stimulating creativity, and communicating complex designs, essential for engineers in all fields.
Explore the science and engineering behind captivating fireworks displays. From their historical origins to cutting-edge innovations, learn how customizable shells create the brilliant colors, sounds, and patterns that light up our celebrations.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, or simply the Tower of Pisa, attracts 5 million visitors every year. It certainly is a strange sight to behold as you walk through the city walls. Why does it lean?
Articles on Books
Discover why Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary is the ultimate sci-fi novel for engineers. This spoiler-free review explores its scientific accuracy, engineering puzzles, and cinematic pacing.
Discover how Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto revolutionizes complex tasks. Learn to design simple, effective checklists that reduce errors, improve team collaboration, and ensure precision in engineering and professional workflows.
Discover how reading fuels innovation by expanding your mental toolkit. Learn why diverse books are essential for engineers, designers, and creative thinkers.
Explore how Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow optimizes engineering design by balancing intuitive expertise with methodical, conscious processes to reduce errors and improve objectivity.
Explore Don Norman’s classic The Design of Everyday Things with Dalton White, uncovering how human-centered design and seven core principles transform our interaction with the world.
Rick Rubin's philosophy from The Creative Act offers a mindful approach to engineering design, seeing awareness, listening, and constraint as keys to clarity in product development.
Published in 2015, Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk offers a fascinating look at the tech mogul’s early successes. Rereading it today reveals how his methods, from maniacal attention to detail to an unwavering worldview, continue to drive his companies forward.
Walter Isaacson’s Albert Einstein: His Life and Universe presents a nuanced portrait of Einstein, blending his scientific achievements with personal struggles and insights. Dr. John Salmon offers his insights to this must-read for those seeking inspiration from one of history’s greatest minds.
If you want to succeed, you need to get some failures behind you. For anyone interested in how to fail better, fail faster, and fail successfully, Adapt is a great place to start.
While the book, The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelly, is full of useful anecdotes, principles, and tips, there is one timeless principle that I wish more creative people knew and practiced – especially engineers. It’s related to seeking feedback.
The recently published book “Product Development: Principles and Tools for Creating Desirable and Transferable Designs” is a unique addition to design resources available to students and engineering professionals interested in evolving their design ideas from the early stages of opportunity development all the way through to production.
Inspiring Articles
Explore the slippery concept of "new" in design. Discover why true innovation relies on the clever recombination, timing, and reinterpretation of existing ideas, tools, and traditions.
One career that is open to designers and engineers lies in academia. Becoming a professor is no easy task, but Chris Mabey (a past BDR editor) has successfully taken this route. Read on to learn his path and some insights to how you can emulate this journey.
Even though the world is moving fast and perhaps even accelerating, it doesn’t mean we can’t be slow in certain ways. Becoming a slow student may be exactly what we need to do to stay at our peak performance in this fast paced world we live in.
I am often inspired by design triumphs in history, but there is one design that has particularly influenced me. It is a humble design: an odometer made from wood for covered wagons that was never put into mass production. Part of what makes it interesting is that it was done under harsh conditions with the goal to help other people and it would become a legendary part of an epic exodus and the settlement of the Western United States.
YouTube is a treasure trove for design-related content. Here are a few channels to consider once those Christmas presents have been opened and you’re ready to cozy up and be inspired during Christmas break.
Melancholy. That isn't something I normally feel. Nor is it a state in which I find myself even rarely if at all. In fact, I probably err on the side of optimism and positivity - almost to a fault. A healthy dose of realism does me good from time to time. But I digress. There is at least one event that I still remember where I felt melancholic.
Innovation
Creating something useful at the right time that did not exist before.
Letter to the Editor
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