Introduction to general form design

Abstract

Anyone watching a designer at work might not notice that he keeps strictly to definite rules and lines of approach. He gives the appearance of having a very wide measure of freedom in all directions, and of not being bound by set canons. It is even more surprising that the designer himself is hardly aware of working within limits and would tend to be surprised if he were asked about these rules and conditions. Nevertheless, they do exist; and an exact knowledge of them is essential for all design work. Only by keeping this fact in sight can we appreciate the pitfalls of practical engineering for anyone ignorant of these fundamental rules, who thinks he can trespass in these fields and do original work without the necessary careful preparatory study. Designing calls for special training, and we must do away once and for all with the idea that all anyone needs is a word or two of advice on how to go about things; the training is just as rigorous, in its way, as that of a mathematician.