Glossary: Design – Plan or Create – Engineering

This comprehensive glossary explains the interconnected disciplines of design, planning/creation, and engineering—with a focus on practical application, deep technical understanding, and adherence to industry standards, such as those from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It is designed for professionals, students, and multidisciplinary teams involved in product development and engineering projects.

Design

What is Design?

Design is the intentional and systematic process of envisioning, specifying, and documenting the appearance, function, and user experience of products, systems, or services before they are built. It is a discipline that balances creativity with rational analysis and problem-solving, ensuring that the final solution is not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional, safe, and feasible.

In fields like aviation and aerospace, design is heavily regulated. Standards from organizations like ICAO, EASA, and FAA define requirements for ergonomics, safety, system redundancy, and documentation. For example, ICAO Annex 8 specifies requirements for aircraft system layouts and fail-safes.

Design is foundational in product development. It translates stakeholder needs and business requirements into concrete concepts, using outputs like sketches, wireframes, 3D models, and system architectures. These outputs serve as the primary means of communication among teams, ensuring shared understanding and facilitating evaluation, prototyping, and eventual realization.

Design bridges the gap between abstract needs and tangible solutions—defining what will be made and how it will be experienced.

Types of Design

Design is a multifaceted discipline, each branch addressing different aspects of a product or system. Key types include:

• Industrial Design: Shapes the physical usability and ergonomics of products—e.g., creating comfortable, safe, and compliant aircraft seats.
• Graphic Design: Crafts visual communication—e.g., safety placards and user manuals that conform to regulatory standards.
• UX/UI Design: Optimizes digital interfaces—e.g., avionics displays that enhance situational awareness and safety.
• System Design: Maps architectures and workflows—e.g., integrating baggage handling subsystems at airports.

How Design is Used

Design is interwoven into every stage of a product or system’s lifecycle:

• Early Ideation & Concept Development: Brainstorming, sketching, and rapid prototyping to explore solutions.
• Problem Framing & User-Centered Design: Defining user needs with personas, scenarios, and journey mapping.
• Prototyping & Iteration: Building prototypes (physical or digital) to test and refine concepts.
• User Testing & Evaluation: Conducting usability studies and human factors analyses, especially critical in aviation.
• Documentation & Communication: Creating detailed drawings, specifications, and style guides for downstream teams.
• Integration with Engineering & Manufacturing: Collaborating closely with engineers to ensure feasibility, manufacturability, and compliance.

Examples in Practice

• Industrial Design: Designing an aircraft seat for comfort, weight reduction, and compliance with crashworthiness standards.
• UX Design: Iteratively refining a flight management system interface using pilot feedback and simulator testing.
• System Design: Architecting a baggage handling system with redundant pathways and fail-safes, as per ICAO guidance.
• Graphic Design: Developing universal safety placards using color-coding, pictograms, and multilingual support.

Plan or Create

What is Planning in Engineering?

Planning in engineering is the structured transformation of design concepts into actionable steps, schedules, and resource allocations. It ensures that all project aspects—scope, risk, resources, and compliance—are managed systematically, aligning execution with design intent and industry regulations.

Key elements of planning include:

• Scope & Objectives: Defining deliverables and criteria for success.
• Risk Assessment: Identifying and mitigating potential obstacles.
• Resource Planning: Assigning tasks and scheduling resources.
• Regulatory & Quality Planning: Ensuring adherence to standards and documentation requirements.

In large or regulated projects (e.g., aircraft development, airport construction), planning is managed using methodologies like PMI’s PMBOK or PRINCE2, and tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project.

How Planning and Creation Are Applied

Planning provides the roadmap; creation is the execution. Their interplay includes:

• Action Plans: Structured schedules with milestones and dependencies.
• Resource & Supply Chain Coordination: Ensuring timely availability of materials and personnel.
• Prototyping & Iterative Creation: Building, testing, and refining prototypes or MVPs.
• Integration with QA: Including quality checkpoints and compliance verifications.
• Change Management: Documenting and controlling project changes for traceability and continuous improvement.

Example Workflows

• Mechanical Engineering: Planning the development, testing, and certification of new landing gear, then creating and refining prototypes.
• Software Engineering: Using Agile sprints to iteratively create, test, and improve flight scheduling applications.
• Process Engineering: Sequencing upgrades to airport fuel farms with risk assessments and phased commissioning.

Engineering

What is Engineering?

Engineering is the application of scientific, mathematical, and technical knowledge to invent, design, build, analyze, and optimize systems, structures, and processes. Engineering transforms designs into practical, safe, and efficient solutions—especially crucial in safety-critical industries like aviation.

Key aspects include:

• Problem Definition: Understanding technical and operational needs.
• Analysis & Modeling: Predicting behavior with simulations and prototypes.
• System Integration: Ensuring subsystems work together as a whole.
• Testing & Validation: Verifying compliance with requirements and standards.
• Continuous Improvement: Refining solutions based on feedback and evolving needs.

Standards from ICAO, FAA, EASA, and SAE govern every phase—from airframe strength to avionics reliability.

Types of Engineering

• Mechanical: Structural design and analysis (e.g., landing gear).
• Electrical: Avionics and electronic systems (e.g., flight controls).
• Civil: Airport infrastructure (e.g., runways, lighting).
• Process: Operational workflows (e.g., fueling, de-icing).
• Software: Safety-critical applications (e.g., flight management).
• Aerospace/Systems: Integrating subsystems for complex products.

Role in Product Development

Engineers:

• Translate Design Intent: Create technical drawings and models for manufacturing.
• Analyze Feasibility: Use simulations and cost analysis to assess solutions.
• Manage Risk & Compliance: Identify failure modes and assure safety.
• Test & Validate: Execute rigorous test plans for certification.
• Optimize & Troubleshoot: Refine designs for performance and reliability.

Meticulous documentation supports certification by authorities (EASA, FAA, etc.).

Use Cases

• Mechanical: Modeling and optimizing landing gear using CAD and FEA.
• Process: Upgrading baggage systems for throughput and reliability.
• Software: Developing and validating integrated flight planning tools.

Engineering Design Process

Overview

The engineering design process is a structured, iterative approach to solving complex problems. It guides teams from problem definition to validated solution, ensuring systematic progress and continuous refinement.

In aviation, documents like ICAO Doc 9859 and SAE ARP4754A formalize this process for safety-critical systems.

Key Steps and Definitions

The process is cyclical: feedback and testing lead to further refinement, ensuring that the final product is robust, compliant, and fit for purpose.

Summary

Design, planning, and engineering are deeply interconnected in modern product development—especially in regulated, safety-critical industries like aviation. Design defines what is to be built and how it should be experienced. Planning translates these concepts into actionable steps. Engineering applies scientific rigor to realize, test, and optimize the solution.

Understanding these domains and their interplay—along with adherence to international standards—ensures that products and systems are safe, efficient, and innovative.

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