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.
Designing a College Semester: More Than Planning
School is back in session but many students will miss out on opportunities to maximize their learning, growth, and improvement. Dylan Conover shares some thoughts on how students can better design their semester and increase their performance in many areas with the right mindset and actions with more than planning.
What I Wish I Knew About Learning as an Undergrad
We all learn a lot while obtaining our university degrees. But learning how to learn is just as important. Find out what Marin wished she had known earlier during her undergrad about learning.
Avoiding the Next Boeing Door Plug Incident: Lessons from the YF-22
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.
Good Design from the Summer of 2024
Summer is a time for relaxing but it doesn't mean it's a time to stop innovating. Learn about some good designs that we discovered over the summer of 2024.
The Harp: A Perfect Union of Design Function and Form
The harp is a perfect example of the balance between design function and form. In this article, learn about certain design choices that make this instrument so beautiful to play, beautiful to see, and beautiful to design.
Design for Manufacturing Series: Additive Manufacturing
This article examines the transformative impact of 3D printing across various industries, from aerospace to construction and even culinary arts. It offers practical design tips for optimizing your prints, such as adjusting support structures, infill percentages, and finishing techniques to enhance both functionality and aesthetics. Learn how to leverage these insights to elevate your projects and harness the full potential of this versatile technology.
Product Development Lessons from the NES Controller
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Controller is an icon of the 1980’s and a symbol of the video gaming industry. This article describes the history of Nintendo as it relates to the NES and derives general product development lessons from the design of the NES Controller.
Is Documentation Valuable to the Design Process?
I visited 21 design firms and asked their designers and engineers what they thought about documentation. This is what I learned.
Crafting iconic products: The Power of a Branded approach in Product Design
In product design, UX gets a lot of attention—and for good reason. Making products that are intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly is crucial. But there’s one more thing that can contribute significantly to designing exceptional products and ignoring it means missing out on creating products that are truly iconic. Let’s talk branding.
Student Club Design: Lessons In Leadership
For student engineers, the process of gaining real-world experience through internships or part-time employment can be onerous and disheartening. By sharing my experiences in four student clubs, I hope to demonstrate the benefits of club involvement and communicate valuable lessons in team building, engineering skills development, and leadership.
The Modern-Day Ski Glove: A Surprising Opportunity for Innovation
Read the winning article for the BDR 2024 essay writing contest!
Decomposition in Design
I immediately realized that decomposition could be translated into other aspects of life. It became an essential part of how I view and approach any problem.
Minimalism in Design– Understanding Your Scope
The relationship between scope and minimalism doesn’t hold true in every case, but if you observe brands, you will definitely notice a pattern: the minimalism in their logos and their products frequently corresponds to their scope.
Optimization From Nature - Genetic Algorithms - A Brief Introduction
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 Concept Changed the Way I Think About Ideation
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.
Why Study the Design Process?
Why would you undertake a deep study of engineering design, or the design process, when you could go about design on your own and learn from your own experience? There is value to be gained from studying design, and I want to add my own take on why studying design is an important complement to hands-on experience.
Laughing through the Pain of Engineering
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.
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.
Good Design: Wilson Airless Gen1 Basketball
The basketball has had a uniform design for almost 100 years. What happens when a major sporting goods company decides that it is finally time for a change? The R&D team at Wilson put their minds together and came up with a pretty ingenious design.