No matter how much science and logic might be involved in its basis, design is and always will be, primarily a creative process. It is initiated by creative conceptualization on the part of the designers. The designer envisions, or more accurately “previsions”, concepts that he or she believes have the potential for satisfying the design requirements implied by the stated design objectives, which in turn are motivated by the needs of the ultimate user.

This set of design requirements must be met by any suggested design alternative. In this way the design requirements play the same role in the engineered...