Photographer Ansel Adams was a creative and technical master, who was extremely interested in sharing his knowledge and enabling the creativity of others.
Christmas Gift Ideas for Design Engineers 2020
The holidays this year will look different than any other. You might be celebrating with family over Zoom, but you can still give the gift of great design.
The Sixth Face of Innovation: The Director
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.
Design Lessons from Genghis Khan
To save you from the hassle of cramming for your own book report, and to remind us that design principles are scattered throughout all fields of study, I’ll summarize three design lessons we can take from the conqueror who established the largest land empire in world history.
Megatrends and Product Development
How can we know what changes will take place over the coming decades? Yes, we won’t know everything about the future world but long term trends that will affect all areas of life can be known, and then used to estimate future conditions. These are called megatrends.
Verification Versus Validation
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.
Good Design: The NRS Tie Down Strap
I heard and read that NRS makes very reliable and robust cam straps, so I bought a few NRS tie down straps earlier this summer to try out in a variety of places.
Using Your Camera in Product Development
You carry one with you, so you might as well get the most out of your camera, especially when it comes to product development.
Why NOT go to Graduate School?
In my previous article, I listed and described a number of reasons why everyone should seriously consider graduate school. In this article I’ll share some ideas why one might want to forgo graduate school entirely.
The Winner of the BYU Design Review Competition is...
We had so many great submissions for the first BYU Design Review Competition! From everyone here at the BYU Design Review we want to say thank you to everyone who participated! We had a lot of fun reviewing your entries and seeing all the creative designs you came up with.
Stepping Stones to Success – One Fire Alarm at a Time
I have worked at the BYU Electric Shop with the Fire Alarm Crew for about a year and a half. The Fire Alarm Crew is required to test and maintain fire alarm equipment throughout all of BYU campus. Entering the job, I felt like I had no knowledge about Fire Alarms, but I’ve learned a lot since then, and not just about Fire Alarms.
The Peer Review Process and Why it Matters for Design
With attacks on the scientific community happening everyday, I thought it would be helpful for people to know more about the peer review process. Yes, the peer review process does have problems, but currently it is our best bet at getting to the facts. Find out why this matters to you as a designer.
First Principles Design
I started thinking about the story behind the things around me later on in my middle school career. I can't remember what exactly initiated the thoughts, but I remember them eating at me. "Why is this thing like this? Why couldn’t they have done this other thing?" I began contracting the product designers' disease of perpetual criticism of the created environment around me early on.
Meet the BYU Design Review Team
The BYU Design Review just turned one year old. As we go into our second year we want to continue to grow and help designer’s make better products. We have a new editor and associate editor, so we wanted to give you a chance to get to know the team.
Why Go to Graduate School?
During my graduate program, I finally fell in love with school. That's right. It took more than four years after high-school, but it happened to me.
What is a Fellowship?
Simply put, a fellowship is a distinguished honor accompanied by a monetary award “that graduate students or postgraduate scholars typically compete for, and fellows are selected based on their potential to make a positive, long-lasting contribution to their academic discipline”
A Good-Better-Best Framework for Design
The long term relationship between a design team and it’s client has everything to do with what the design team delivers and when. Setting clear expectations about the quality and completeness of the design work keeps both the design team and the client from changing the expectations without thoughtful discussions together. Simply articulating early in the development process, what good, better, and best solutions look like can make all the difference in what is delivered and in the long term relationship.
5 Tips for Learning Difficult Material
Learning is an essential skill as an engineer. New technology is always emerging and the skills needed for a particular design are always changing. Learning new skills isn’t always easy, especially when you progress past what Youtube can teach you.
Storytelling in Design
Think of your favorite fictional characters. Who are they? Do they live in a world like ours or somewhere very different and far away? What do they look like? What do they like to do? Consider your relationship with these characters. Though they are not real, you are invested in their story.
First Annual BYU Design Review Competition
It’s time to design… even while we can’t design together face to face.