How is Design related to STEAM? Is design a science topic?

Most people don’t think of design as a science, they see it as creating something pretty. But Design is very much rooted within the science community, and it will play a big part in how we innovate as designers in a changing world.

What is STEAM?

The term STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. As there’s a largely creative element to design, we can use another acronym, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths).  

In this post, we’ll explore how Design relates to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. 

The term STEAM came about as an multidisciplinary approach to the science world, and has become a term that’s now used in education and the workforce in the promotion of highly complex technical skills. 

If you want to learn more about multi-disciplinary design, you can read What is Multidisciplinary Design and our 12 Principles for Multidisciplinary Design.

The goal of Nollie Design is to bring the many disciplines of Design together, much like the term STEAM did. Plus Design in itself has a role within the STEAM community too!

Why is STEAM Important?

The term STEM was invented in 2001 by Judith A. Ramaley of the National Science Foundation (USA). It was invented as a way to bring a focus to the multidisciplinary nature of science projects, and a way to promote these skills to new students. 

In 2006 Georgette Yakman proposed adding the Arts element to STEM as a way to encourage creative approaches to real world problems. By 2012 the United States National Research Council adopted STEAM as a new way to teach science to students.

In Design we’re seeing a similar issue. Much like the scientists we face the same complex issues and design has spent the last two decades focusing on specialisation rather than coming together to solve complex problems. Much like how STEAM brought together the many specialties in the science world, multi-disciplinary design can do the same for ours.

Find out why we need more Multidisciplinary Designers in this Future of Design post.

In fact, in the Design Council’s report on Multi-disciplinary Design Education in the UK, broadening designers’ knowledge of science and technology was their second priority for developing multidisciplinary designers.

How Design is a Science

Science is the study of the natural world through observation and experimentation. You test a hypothesis and use experiments to figure out whether you were right or not.

Design shares many areas of overlap with science. We test our ideas through drawings, prototypes and data. Science also shares an iterative process.

The way that humans behave and understand the world plays a big role in how we design. Science comes into Design in many ways. 

Much like science, design is about understanding problems to come up with solutions. Research plays a huge role in our Design Process, we need to understand user needs, behaviours and preferences. 

Research and Experimentation

Research is a very important stage in the design process.

You can read more about a Multidisciplinary Design Process in this post, if you want. 

Taking the time to thoroughly understand what is required from your brief is essential to creating designs that effectively meet the needs of the user. This involves both primary and secondary research methods:

• Primary Research: This is about going out and meeting people who may be experts in the field, or those that will use your design. Use interviews, surveys, and usability testing to help gather data. By gathering first hand data, designers can gain insights into user preferences, behaviours, and pain points.
• Secondary Research:  Secondary Research is finding information in published sources like videos, the internet, books and newspapers. Checking reviews, conducting market analysis, and case studies provides context to help you back up your findings with Primary Research.

Use Your Design Specification to help you sort through your data.

Check out our Guide on Using a Design Specification or download the template.

Experimentation is also crucial. It involves iterative testing of design concepts and prototypes to refine your ideas.

This process can include A/B testing, where different versions of a design are compared to see which performs better, and usability testing, where real users interact with a prototype to identify issues and gather feedback. 

Through research and experimentation, designers can validate their ideas, reduce risks, and ensure the final product is both functional and user-friendly. This iterative process shares many similarities to the Scientific Method.

Human Factors and Ergonomics

Human Factors and Ergonomics play a pivotal role in ensuring that designs are comfortable, efficient, and safe for users. It plays a huge role in Fashion Design, Industrial Design, and Interior Design.

Ergonomics involves designing products that fit the physical needs of users. 

This includes considering body dimensions, movements, and strength to minimize discomfort and the risk of injury. For example, ergonomic chairs are designed to support the natural curve of the spine and reduce back strain.

If you’re new to design, one of the fastest ways to learn about Human Sizes can be done through Fashion Design projects. Check out How to Understand Human Sizes Using Fashion Design

Ergonomics is often credited to Henry Dreyfuss, an Industrial Designer who literally wrote the book on it. His ergonomic work has been updated into The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design.

Psychology

Psychology plays a huge role in design. The way we behave, perceive, and interact with the world heavily influences how we respond to different design elements. 

Here are some key psychological principles that impact design:

Color Theory 

Color Theory is fascinating!

Our brain reacts to different colors in different ways. For instance, red can bring feelings of passion or aggression, green is often linked with health and nature, and blue tends to have a calming effect. 

By understanding these different colours impact our brains, designers can use color to influence emotions and behaviors, such as using blue in a healthcare app to create a sense of calm and trust.

I highly recommend this game by Method of Action to help you understand color theory.

Gestalt Principles

The Gestalt Principles describe how we visually see objects as whole forms rather than just a collection of parts. Concepts like proximity, similarity, and closure help designers create organized and intuitive layouts that are easy for users to navigate and understand.

User Experience (UX) Design:

This involves applying psychological insights to create interfaces that align with user expectations and behaviors. For example, placing frequently used buttons in easily accessible areas or using visual cues to guide users through a process.

Designers learn the way users interact with their work. Understanding their motivations, preferences and letting them test your work allows you to create something more tailored to their needs. 

Design and Technology 

Technology plays a huge role in how we design and the solutions we come up with as Designers. In todays world we rely on technology for our Design Process, like using design software. Understanding Design’s role in STEAM helps open the possibilities for new innovative ideas.

Tools and Innovations

Designers use a large variety of technological tools to help create and develop their work. 

Most importantly we rely on Design Software like Adobe Creative Cloud to create digital media, logos and branding. Designers also use 3D software like Fusion360, Solidworks or Blender.

For those looking to get started, Adobe Creative Cloud offers a suite of tools perfect for designers. You can get a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud here.

These tools allow designers to create complex digital work, using vectors (made of math) and allow for prototyping and running simulations. 

For example, in Industrial Design understanding how forces interact with your design helps reduce any risks of potential failure. This is all done through simulation technology within the software.

Emerging Design Technologies in STEAM

Not only do we have technological software that has made design work easier, but we also need to look to the future of Design to recognise what’s on the horizon. 

Artificial Intelligence has been a hot topic for the past few years, but we are still very much in the beginning stages of this technology. Designers can use AI to automate repetitive tasks, generate design suggestions and improve user experience with personalised interactions.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are about to play a larger role in the design world in the upcoming years.  These technologies allow us to create highly immersive experiences. Designers will need to understand how to create work in this space.

Another tool designers will rely on more is rapid prototyping tools, like 3D Printers, CNC machinery and Laser Cutters. It feels weird for me to call these an emerging technology since I’ve been working with this technology since 2013, long before they became mainstream.

If you want to have go with rapid prototyping check out your local Fablab!

However these tools are also still in their infancy. In a few years, 3D printing will be even more popular in manufacturing on small and industrialised scales.

These are just the tools that are becoming popular at the time of writing. As technology improves, so will the uses in a design context. 

For example, nanotechnology might still seem like Science Fiction right now, but it is very much on the horizon. Artificial Intelligence will reach the point where it overtakes human knowledge (an event known as The Singularity) in a matter of years. Mark my words. 

How we design and what we design will look incredibly different in the future. It is up to us as designers to ensure we are ahead of the curve, or risk being left behind. 

Engineering Within A Design Context

Some forms of design require more engineering expertise than others, but as we promote multi-disciplinary design, you should have a basic understanding of how Engineering plays a part in the design world.

As designers, we need to design concepts, prototype and create functional work. 

We need to know how our work will be manufactured, how the components interact with eachother, and create functional prototypes with electronics and maybe even use coding for projects that use Mechatronics. 

For my design career, I have had to learn Arduino and Raspberry Pi for some projects. This has been for simple prototypes and for complex design solutions.

If you want to learn more about how I became a Multi-Disciplinary Designer, you can check out the About Page.

Design and Construction

Multidisciplinary designers utilize principles of engineering to inform their design decisions, ensuring that their creations are both innovative and functional.

Designers can predict and optimize the performance of structures and products, from simple objects to complex mechanical systems.

Force Analysis

In fields like Industrial Design and Architecture,  understanding elements of engineering will help you ensure that your design can properly function. Designers would need to test the forces acting on an onject, test it against it’s material factors and ensure it doesn’t break.

These tests help ensure that objects won’t break when they have force applied to them. It helps you choose the right materials, based on their properties. It helps ensure that your work is safe.

Thankfully there is software to do this for you. Simulations on applications like SOLIDWORKS or Fusion360 help you understand how force will impact your design. 

Manufacturing

Engineering comes into play when we want to try manufacturing our ideas. We need to know what production methods will be used and how that will impact the design.

You need to balance the functional properties of your idea with the materials you’ll be using. 

While Manufacturing might heavily apply to Industrial Design, it doesn’t mean that designers of all fields can’t experience manufacturing. We highly recommend finding your local Makerspace or Fablab to try designing something new.

Check out the Fablab Network to find your local Makerspace in your area.

The Art of Design

Creativity and creating beautiful work should still play a part in your role as a Designer.  You need to use your imagination and original ideas to create something that is functional yet unique.

Knowing what makes something looks good is a key component of Design, so much so that some designers don’t even comprehend how design and science relate. Design is often promoted as an artform, and taught in Art Schools. 

But we forget that design is not about emotional expression, but about solving problems for other people.

I started my design career as a Digital Media designer in one of Scotland’s best contemporary art galleries, so I can understand how easily the two fields are linked but misunderstood.

Art is about emotional expression, whereas design is about functional solutions. Art is created to make you feel something, think differently and communicate the artist’s personality. It’s open to interpretation, and relies on opinion to decide whether something is good or not. 

Design however, is intentional and purposeful. It’s about solving problems and making things easier for people. It’s success is measured by how functional something is, and how nice it looks doing it.

Design can be art, but it must have a purpose. Art is about expression and exploration, whereas design is about problem-solving and functionality. 

This isn’t to say that making things look good isn’t important, Aesthetics is one of the key Principles in our 12 Principles of Multidisciplinary Design. It just isn’t Art.

While design and art are two different things, they share a lot of common ground. As a multidisciplinary designer, you need to understand how things interlink and in my opinion, I believe learning Aesthetics is a great way to start your multi-disciplinary journey.

As designers there are many elements of visual design that we need to understand like…

Colour Theory

We’ve already mentioned how Color Theory has a psychological impact on how people view your work. If you are looking for a fun way to kill 10 minutes, then seriously go check out Method of Action’s Color Theory game.

Not only does Color Theory impact how we see things. It also helps improve the Aesthetics of your designs. As design is about intention, you can use colour to get your point across. 

We see it all the time, festival posters are bright and colourful to give you a sense of summer fun, tools are yellow and orange to make you think of construction, a blue and white hotel room makes you feel like you’re at the beach. This is all done deliberately.

Composition & Visual Elements

Having even just a slight understanding of composition will help you as a designer. As designers we need to show off our work, photograph our process and create impactful visuals.

Composition is rooted in mathematics. The Golden Ratio is used in mathematical theories, geometry, and even in the study of chaos and fractals. It has been linked to Fibonacci numbers and is present in some natural phenomena, like trees, shells and space. 

Historically, the golden ratio has been used in the design of famous architectural structures like the Parthenon in Greece and in artworks by renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci, who by the way, loved a bit of geometry.

Composition also incorporates Visual Elements, which is kind of like the cheat code to Graphic Design. The way we present something gives an illusion that we can use to create meaning. 

Texture

Texture is the unsung hero in Aesthetics. Much like colour it can give us a sense of feeling to an image, an object or a space. Like we can imagine what it feels like to the touch. Ask any Interior Designer!

Texture gives you an understanding of what something is made of, even if it’s fake. A great example of this comes from Animation. South Park uses paper textures in their animation to give you the sense that it’s still hand made using card and paper, despite the fact they use software like Adobe Animate and AfterEffects. It gives an illusion of being hand made, rather than actually being hand made.

In objects we can use texture to create a sense of feeling too. For example, a sleek smooth surface gives the feeling of luxury, whereas something with a rugged texture might feel durable. Texture can be used to show how to interact with the design too. For example, a torch may have a different texture on the handle to indicate that’s where you hold it.

In Interior Design, they love textures! Textures help shape the look and feel of a space. Texture adds depth, interest and contrast. It also adds complexity. Taking an ordinary room and adding textured materials creates something that’s engaging and makes the room more visually interesting.

Using Math in Design

We use maths in Design more than you may expect, especially if you are in the “design is just about making things look pretty” camp.

Math is used to provide quantitative analysis, measurements and cost estimations. 

Quantitative Analysis

If you use a Design Specification, you’ll know that the best way to get insight into a project is to get real data. A Design Specification is about collecting data about how your design solution will work in a larger setting.

In a Design Spec, you should answer using data versus opinion. Quantitative data is essential for designers to analyze user behavior, validate design choices, and measure the impact of their work.

For example, if your designing for a solution for a fitness brand, you should know as much data as you can to help you design a solution that fits their needs. How many users do they have? what’s the percentage of male and females? how long do they stay? These are questions that can inform your creative decisions that can be answered in hard data.

Precision and Accuracy

As designers we need to know sizes. We need to know the pixel aspect ratios, pixel resolutions, we need to scale items up and down, and create orthographics that demonstrate 3D objects.

As a multi-disciplinary designer, the amount of maths I’ve had to do from scaling logos for vehicle graphics to creating 3D orthographics for Industrial Design projects.

From graphics learning the page sizes, fashion designers understanding the sizes of the human body, Industrial designers understanding the sizes in their products, to Interior Designers learning the size of a space, designers use sizes in all different ways to help them create a viable solution.

Accurate measurements are important. If there are errors in the sizing, it cost a lot to your project. You may need to restart your project or be far down the line that resizing would cost you.

I’m by no means great at math, if anything I need a notepad and pen just to play darts. But knowing that I need to use it in my work, requires me to have an understanding that allows me to be practical and functional. Even if I’m not great I know that I need to use it in my designs.

By understanding the role that math plays in your design work will allow you to work more practically.

Design in STEAM

For multi-discipline designers we need to understand that Design is not about how nice things look, but how well it solves a problem. 

In a world that’s rapidly changing, understanding how design fits within STEAM will allow us to create more innovative ideas and keep pace with the rest of the world. We need to collaborate with scientists, technologists and developers to keep up pace in a changing world.

The Design world needs to understand that our work is grounded in STEAM.