Assess
To thoroughly and methodically analyze accomplishment against specific goals and criteria.
Assessment
An evaluation technique for technology that requires analyzing benefits and risks, understanding the trade-offs, and then determining the best action to take in order to ensure that the desired positive outcomes outweigh the negative consequences. Techniques used to analyze accomplishments against specific goals and criteria. Examples of assessments include tests, surveys, observations, and self-assessment.
Brainstorm
A group technique for solving problems, generating ideas, stimulating creative thinking, etc. by unrestrained spontaneous participation in discussion.
Client
A person using the services of a professional person or organization.
Creativity
The ability to make or bring a new concept or idea into existence; marked by the ability or power to create.
Criteria
A means of judging. A standard, rule, or test by which something can be judged.
Constraint
A limit to a design process. Constraints may be such things as appearance, funding, space, materials, and human capabilities. 2. A limitation or restriction.
Design
An iterative decision-making process that produces plans by which resources are converted into products or systems that meet human needs and wants or solve problems. 2. A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of something before it is built or made. 3. A decorative pattern.
Design Brief
A written plan that identifies a problem to be solved, its criteria, and its constraints. The design brief is used to encourage thinking of all aspects of a problem before attempting a solution.
Design Process
A systematic problem-solving strategy, with criteria and constraints, used to develop many possible solutions to solve a problem or satisfy human needs and wants and to winnow (narrow) down the possible solutions to one final choice.
Design Statement
A part of a design brief that challenges the designer, describes what a design solution should do without describing how to solve the problem, and identifies the degree to which the solution must be executed.
Designer
A person who designs any of a variety of things. This usually implies the task of creating drawings or in some ways uses visual cues to organize his or her work.
Engineer
A person who is trained in and uses technological and scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.
Engineering Notebook
A book in which an engineer will formally document, in chronological order, all of his/her work that is associated with a specific design project.
Innovation
An improvement of an existing technological product, system, or method of doing something.
Invention
A new product, system, or process that has never existed before, created by study and experimentation.
Iterative
A process that repeats a series of steps over and over until the desired outcome is obtained.
Piling-on
An idea that produces a similar idea or an enhanced idea.
Problem Identification
The recognition of an unwelcome or harmful matter needing to be dealt with.
Product
A tangible artifact produced by means of either human or mechanical work, or by biological or chemical process.
Prototype
A full-scale working model used to test a design concept by making actual observations and necessary adjustments.
Research
The systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
Cabinet Pictorial
Oblique pictorial where depth is represented as half scale compared to the height and width scale.
Cavalier Pictorial
Oblique pictorial where height, width, and depth are represented at full scale.
Center Line
A line which defines the center of arcs, circles, or symmetrical parts.
Construction Line
lightly drawn lines to guide drawing other lines and shapes.
Depth
The measurement associated with an object's front-to-back dimension or extent of something from side to side.
Dimension
A measurable extent, such as the three principal dimensions of an object is width, height, and depth.
Dimension Line
A line which represents distance.
Documentation
The documents that are required for something or that give evidence or proof of something. 2. Drawings or printed information that contain instructions for assembling, installing, operating, and servicing.
Drawing
A formal graphical representation of an object containing information based on the drawing type.
Edge
The line along which two surfaces of a solid meet.
Ellipse
A regular oval shape, traced by a point moving in a plane so that the sum of its distances from two other points is constant, or resulting when a cone is cut by an oblique plane which does not intersect the base.
Extension Line
Line which represents where a dimension starts and stops.
Freehand
Sketching which is done manually without the aid of instruments such as rulers.
Grid
A network of lines that cross each other to form a series of squares or rectangles.
Height
The measurement associated with an object's top-to-bottom dimension.
Hidden Line
A line type that represents an edge that is not directly visible.
Isometric Sketch
A form of pictorial sketch in which all three drawing axes form equal angles of 120 degrees with the plane of projection.
Leader Line
Line which indicates dimensions of arcs, circles and detail.
Line
Line which indicates dimensions of arcs, circles and detail. Line 1. A long thin mark on a surface. 2. A continuous extent of length, straight or curved, without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point. 3. Long, narrow mark or band.
Line Conventions
Standardization of lines used on technical drawings by line weight and style.
Line Weight
Also called line width. The thickness of a line, characterized as thick or thin.
Long-Break Line
A line which indicates that a very long objects with uniform detail is drawn foreshortened.
Manufacture
To make something, especially on a large scale using machinery.
Measurement
The process of using dimensions, quantity, or capacity by comparison with a standard in order to mark off, apportion, lay out, or establish dimensions.
Multi-View Drawing
A drawing which contains views of an object projected onto two or more orthographic planes.
Object Line
A heavy solid line used on a drawing to represent the outline of an object.
Oblique Sketch
A form of pictorial in which an object is represented as true width and height, but the depth can be any size and drawn at any angle.
Orthographic Projection
A method of representing three-dimensional objects on a plane having only length and breadth. Also referred to as Right Angle Projection.
Perspective Sketch
A form of pictorial sketch in which vanishing points are used to provide the depth and distortion that is seen with the human eye.
Pictorial Sketch
A sketch that shows an object's height, width, and depth in a single view.
Plane
A flat surface on which a straight line joining any two points would wholly lie.
Point
A location in space.
Profile
An outline of an object when viewed from one side.
Projection Line
An imaginary line that is used to locate or project the corners, edges, and features of a three-dimensional object onto an imaginary two-dimensional surface.
Projection Plane
An imaginary surface between the object and the observer on which the view of the object is projected and drawn.
Proportion
The relationship of one thing to another in size, amount, etc. 2.Size or weight relationships among structures or among elements in a single structure.
Scale
A straight-edged strip of rigid material marked at regular intervals that is used to measure distances. 2. A proportion between two sets of dimensions used to develop accurate, larger or smaller prototypes, or models.
Section Lines
Thin lines used in a section view to indicate where the cutting plane line has cut through material.
Shading
The representation of light and shade on a sketch or map.
Short-Break Line
Line which shows where part is broken to reveal detail behind the part or to shorten a long continuous part.
Shape
A two-dimensional contour that characterizes an object or area, in contrast to three-dimensional form.
Sketch
A rough representation of the main features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study.
Solid
A three-dimensional body or geometric figure.
Technical Working Drawing
A drawing that is used to show the material, size, and shape of a product for manufacturing purposes.
Three-Dimensional
Having the dimensions of height, width, and depth.
Tone
The general effect of color or of light and shade in a picture.
Two-Dimensional
Having the dimensions of height and width, height and depth, or width and depth only.
Vanishing Point
A vanishing point is a point in space, usually located on the horizon, where parallel edges of an object appear to converge.
View
Colloquial term for views of an object projected onto two or more orthographic planes in a multi-view drawing.
Width
The measurement associated with an object's side-to-side dimension.
Accuracy
The degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to the actual (or accepted) value.
Arrowheads
Arrowheads are used to indicate the end of a dimension line or leader.
Caliper
A measuring instrument having two adjustable jaws typically used to measure diameter or thickness.
Class Interval
A group of values that is used to analyze the distribution of data.
Convert
To change money, stocks, or units in which a quantity is expressed into others of a different kind.
Data
Facts and statistics used for reference or analysis.
Data Set
A group of individual values or bits of information that are related in some way or have some common characteristic or attribute.
Dimension
A measurable extent, such as the three principal dimensions of an object as in width, height, and depth.
Dimension Lines
A line which represents distance.
Dot Plot
See line plot.
Frequency
The rate at which something occurs over a particular period or in a given sample.
Graph
A diagram showing the relation between variable quantities, typically of two variables measured along a pair of lines at right angles.
Histogram
A graph of vertical bars representing the frequency distribution of a set of data.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
A non-governmental global organization whose principal activity is the development of technical standards through consensus.
International System of Units (SI)
An international system of units of measurement consisting of seven base units.
Line Plot
A method of visually displaying a distribution of data values where each data value is shown as a dot or mark above a number line. Also known as a dot plot.
Mean
A measure of center in a set of numerical data, computed by adding the values in a list and then dividing by the number of values in the list.
Measure
To determine the size, amount, or degree of an object by comparison with a standard unit.
Median
A measure of center in a set of numerical data. The median of a list of values is the value appearing at the center of a sorted version of the list - or the mean of the two central values if the list contains an even number of values.
Mode
The value that occurs most frequently in a given data set.
Normal Distribution
A function that represents the distribution of variables as a symmetrical bell-shaped graph.
Numeric Constraint
A number value or algebraic equation that is used to control the size or location of a geometric figure.
Precision
The degree to which repeated measurements show the same result.
Scale
A straight-edged strip of rigid material marked at regular intervals and used to measure distances. 2. A proportion between two sets of dimensions used in developing accurate, larger or smaller prototypes, or models of design ideas.
Scatter Plot
A graph in the coordinate plane representing a set of bivariate data.
Significant Digits
The digits in a decimal number that carry meaning contributing to the precision or accuracy of the quantity.
Standard Deviation
The distance of a value in a population (or sample) from the mean value of the population (or sample).
Statistics
Collection of methods for planning experiments, obtaining data, organizing, summarizing, presenting, analyzing, interpreting, and drawing conclusions based on data.