Observations on Modes of Incremental Change in Design

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper presents a framework for the classification of modes of historical development of normal design, and for tracing this development as products mature. Normal design involves the incremental development of an existing design principle. Designs are defined in terms of sets of explicit and implicit attributes, and the framework is based on a model in which design involves searching within a design space, subject to the requirements of a product design specification. Five modes of design change are identified: design parameter space exploration; improvement in understanding of design attribute relationships; change in product design specification; modification of the feasible design space; and adoption of a new design principle. These modes of change are illustrated by considering the development of automotive engine piston design.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 47 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.