Identifying the Relationship among Design Methods: Key to Successful Applications and Developments of Design Methods

This paper analyzes existing design methods and their relationship. It is concluded that Axiomatic Design is the method that illustrates design process and design method clearly. Other design methods may belong to a kind of method for mapping between a special design requirement and its design solution in the process of Axiomatic Design. The design requirements and their design solutions should be decomposed into hierarchies from the abstract concepts to the detailed information, and, during the zig-zag mapping process, the most suitable design method should then be applied according to the given design requirement. After the solutions are generated at each level, two axioms can be applied to determine good design or the best. It is also verified, from the example of Design for Assembly, that Axiomatic Design can be also applied to develop new design methods systematically, quickly and successfully.