To put it simply, design intent requires designing products to meet the product requirements with no consideration of what is required beyond answering the question of "Is this product manufacturable?" ... You must define what is required for the design to work before you can define how it will be made.

Design intent affects how you do your work because managing it properly forces you to define just what you are trying to do. It makes you decide what is important, why it is important, what makes the design work, and what is required to ensure that it works. By removing the manufacturing or quality concerns from consideration (again, assuming you keep in mind that the end result must be manufacturable) you are free to begin thinking "out of the box" about what the design truly needs to be.

© 2000 Lisa Schmitt