Engineering Design: A Project-Based Introduction, Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 9

COMMUNICATING DESIGNS GRAPHICALLY

Here's my design; can you make it?

BEING ABLE to communicate effectively is a critical skill for engineers. We communicate in oral presentations, and through written documents, and technical drawings. We also communicate individually and as members of design teams. We communicate with our client: when we define the design problem; while we work through the design process; and when we portray our final design in standardized, detailed drawings so it can be built. We communicate when we build models or prototypes to demonstrate or evaluate our design's effectiveness. And perhaps as important as anything else, we also communicate when we take our ideas from our heads and commit them to paper. We devote this chapter to creating design drawings, an essential tool for effective engineering communication.

9.1 ENGINEERING SKETCHES AND DRAWINGS SPEAK TO MANY AUDIENCES

Drawing is very important in design because a lot of information is created and transmitted in the drawing process. Design drawings include sketches, freehand drawings, and computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) models that extend from simple wire-frame drawings (e.g., something very much like stick figures) through elaborate solid models (e.g., three-dimensional objects that include color and perspective).

Figure 9.1 Design information adjacent to a sketch of the designed ...