How creative is a Mechanical Engineering degree
I’m considering doing a mechanical engineering degree and wondering how much creativity is involved. What I mean by this is I know that a mechanical engineering degree will be mainly physics and I’m happy with it but I also know that there’s a good amount of engineering design and I’m wondering if that topic gives room for creative thinking and ideas (basically I wanna make something relevant to the course but maybe have some room to put my own slightly silly spin on it). Also as an additional note what is the rationale of practical to theory work in a mechanical engineering degree, i want to learn theory work but i also want to do a lot of practical and hands on work because that how i learn best and i love doing practical work.
Engineering design is not creative design. The "design" in engineering design refers to the iterative process through which engineered systems are planned, tested, then the existing plan is modified to imrpove it and hence becomes "designed" in that sense i.e. built according to a plan (albeit engineers also don't build the things, they just create the process through which something is ultimately manufactured typically and oversee that).
If you're more after a creative area within the scope of manufacturing sector then product design or product engineering may be a better fit (or on the built environment side, architecture).
There is a fair amount of practical work in an engineering degree but bear in mind this isn't practical work in the sense of more vocational technician/technologist work, it's practical work in the sense of experimental design (also not a creative design area) i.e. you will set up apparatus to gather data and test a model or hypothesis. Or doing CAD stuff which also counts as "practical" work.
Of course there may be some scope to do some more "vocational" stuff (a couple people when I was doing engineering learned to weld for one of the individual projects and used those skills as part of an engineering project proper), and perhaps occasionally more "creative" design based stuff (albeit firmly rooted in engineering science and engineering design principles - I know of someone that designed and built a functioning electric guitar for another individual project, although I assume it sounded terrible).
If you're more after a creative area within the scope of manufacturing sector then product design or product engineering may be a better fit (or on the built environment side, architecture).
There is a fair amount of practical work in an engineering degree but bear in mind this isn't practical work in the sense of more vocational technician/technologist work, it's practical work in the sense of experimental design (also not a creative design area) i.e. you will set up apparatus to gather data and test a model or hypothesis. Or doing CAD stuff which also counts as "practical" work.
Of course there may be some scope to do some more "vocational" stuff (a couple people when I was doing engineering learned to weld for one of the individual projects and used those skills as part of an engineering project proper), and perhaps occasionally more "creative" design based stuff (albeit firmly rooted in engineering science and engineering design principles - I know of someone that designed and built a functioning electric guitar for another individual project, although I assume it sounded terrible).
Reply 2
As above, design in mechanical engineering is really describing a workflow of several processes to develop the most suitable solution, balancing whatever demands & objectives are deemed relevant for whatever “problem” you have.
If you are interested in aesthetics & styling you are probably better off looking at product design.
Id say there is room for creativity in generating novel ideas but from a scientific perspective rather than a “design” perspective. For example lookup the “DAS” dual axis steering system in Formula one. This was a “creative” solution for trying to generate heat in the tyres - but the creativity is rooted in maths & physics.
If you are interested in aesthetics & styling you are probably better off looking at product design.
Id say there is room for creativity in generating novel ideas but from a scientific perspective rather than a “design” perspective. For example lookup the “DAS” dual axis steering system in Formula one. This was a “creative” solution for trying to generate heat in the tyres - but the creativity is rooted in maths & physics.
Original post
by 7KRocksI’m considering doing a mechanical engineering degree and wondering how much creativity is involved. What I mean by this is I know that a mechanical engineering degree will be mainly physics and I’m happy with it but I also know that there’s a good amount of engineering design and I’m wondering if that topic gives room for creative thinking and ideas (basically I wanna make something relevant to the course but maybe have some room to put my own slightly silly spin on it). Also as an additional note what is the rationale of practical to theory work in a mechanical engineering degree, i want to learn theory work but i also want to do a lot of practical and hands on work because that how i learn best and i love doing practical work.
Hi there,
if you're interested in engineering and are really interested in the creativity side and the spin that you come on your own projects - I would recommend you take a good look at the course specification for each university you apply to as other than the core modules they can be very different.
The core modules helping you to understand mechanical science will always be more theory based you learn it than you do the exam on it - but in my experience there's always been at least two or three modules a year where you have your own design project, you're making something, you are designing something or you're testing something. These modules might be able to give you what you're looking for so definitely have a look at what university is offer what modules in the different years.
Hope this helps
Amber
Coventry university student ambassador
Reply 4
7KRocks
OP
7
thank you yeah I'm looking for a mainly theory based course but i plan to go into more of a design route afterwards so i was hoping that i would be given freedom in these projects to put my own spin on things
Reply 5
Original post
by 7KRocksthank you yeah I'm looking for a mainly theory based course but i plan to go into more of a design route afterwards so i was hoping that i would be given freedom in these projects to put my own spin on things
What do you mean by I want to go into a “design role” this could mean quite a vast number of things?
Reply 6
7KRocks
OP
7
more like into things to do with products but more on the manufacturing side so stuff like prototype testing because I know this is a route a lot of mechanical engineers take
Reply 7
Original post
by 7KRocksmore like into things to do with products but more on the manufacturing side so stuff like prototype testing because I know this is a route a lot of mechanical engineers take
Ok, if this is the route you want to take. what you are describing wouldn’t be considered a ‘design role’
Prototype testing can also be a whole host of different things (it’s a type of physical analysis), but typically it falls into r&d (research & development)
•
it can be research: testing out concepts/solutions ideas and seeing the behaviour/performance, this will often be less refined prototypes just to understand if the theoretical solution represents well in the real world (there are engineers who work to identify and generate solution ideas - who I would describe as the creative roles you talk about, they would often be involved in developing these tests, but probably unlikely to manage them unless you are in a very small organisation)
•
Research Correlation: if you have data from another source such as a computer simulation you will want to correlate it with physical testing on a prototype to make sure it is representative
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Development: validation testing, typically taking a prototype that is very close to a final product (perhaps even a prototype build of the final product), and putting it through tests to make sure it complies with what you need (this could be performance related, safety related, environmental…)
Or design means product design. People who utilise tools like clay modelling, CAD, other artistic tools to make a product that can deliver the desired functionality but has aesthetics that position it well in its market.
(edited 1 year ago)
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