Cooperation conquers design conflict

Designers and engineers often disagree over how new models can and should look, but the earlier they start cooperating the better the outcome for both.

What price glory? That may have been posed as a philosophical question by playwrights Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings, but for many engineers the price of design glory is a lot of late nights trying to find ways to make a dazzling styling element meet a myriad of requirements.

Obstacles to some design ideas include making the item work at all, finding a way to manufacture it, and making the potentially “exotic” item for a price the accountants can accept. Too often engineering priorities outweigh design considerations, resulting in functional but sometimes artless products that inspire no passion in would-be customers.