Conceptual Design (CD) is the preliminary design including interactions, collected datasets, experiences, processes, strategies, and economic factors. It is not new, it is not old, and it never gets old. CD is somehow underrated because conceptual designers need to be creative thinkers, mathematically strong, and economically system thinkers. C-Designers design new systems or optimize systems constantly. It means for engineering problems, they have to come up with engineering solutions. The more versatile projects they work on, the more skillful and mastery level of experiences they will reach.
It is a data-driven design
CD is considered the preliminary design stage. Even though it seems detailed design, it is a combination of a holistic representation of the system and forecasting the main outcomes or functions based on assumption and available previous data. Do you like data science in design?
It requires programming skills
Yes, basic programming skills are needed. Python is enough for a CD, but you can go advanced with machine learning and computational design.
It has Engineering Economics
A typical CD report has a few technical chapters plus one engineering economy chapter which actually is the most influential one during presentations to finance the project for the next phase to investors or financers. It basically forecasts information regarding different costs, and economic factors like the financial return of investment, timeline, and feasibility of concept for the next phase of design and execution. For example, the conceptual design of aircraft or energy power plants needs a deeper understanding of engineering economics and calculation skills.
Needs Creative Mindset
There are three ways of thinking:
Design thinking
System thinking
Holistic thinking
Depending on needs, the CD might require one or all of the above mindsets. Creative people have flexible neurons to invent or create new concepts.
Which majors?
Architecture and Building Information Modeling
Aerospace Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Energy Engineering
System Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Industrial Design
Computer Science
Career prospectives:
Tech Entrepreneurs
Tech Companies and Tech Startups
Automotives
Design and Manufacturing
XSEALD and Design Studios
NASA and Space Companies
Energy and Environmental Companies
Social Entrepreneurs save costs with a limited budget
System Designers
IoT System Developers
Medical Device Companies, and Biomedical Engineering
Salary:
If you're looking for a stable high salary like a Google software developer around $140,000, never go for CD. CD people can get rich for one concept, patent, or tech startup because they have entrepreneurial genomes and they understand economics and financing projects. Addicted designers create concepts even in their leisure time on weekends or at night without getting paid usually. They love what they're doing. They're the creative and innovative minds that universities, R&D, corporate, and startup people can use their brains for engineering solutions.
Salary Range: $58,000 to $97,000
Bibliography:
Babich, N. (2022) What is conceptual design?, UX Planet. Available at: https://uxplanet.org/what-is-conceptual-design-b01dec8054a5 (Accessed: October 19, 2022).
University of Cambridge (no date) Concept design process: Overview, Inclusivedesigntoolkit.com. Available at: https://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/GS_overview/overview.html (Accessed: October 19, 2022).
Mcgill University (no date) Conceptual Design, Mcgill.ca. Available at: https://www.mcgill.ca/engineeringdesign/step-step-design-process/design-phases-practice/conceptual-design (Accessed: October 19, 2022).
Difference between technical design and conceptual design in software engineering (2021) GeeksforGeeks. Available at: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-technical-design-and-conceptual-design-in-software-engineering/ (Accessed: October 19, 2022).
Wikipedia contributors (2022) NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NASA_Institute_for_Advanced_Concepts&oldid=1111945979.
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