<aside> 🚩 It is possible to develop inventive design solutions by looking for analogies in other contexts.

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Overview

Drawing an analogy means finding a correspondence between two different things.

In design, analogy is a way to develop new embodiments of functions. It is the means by which one connects a function Requirement to a physical system, technology, or principle (a behaviour) that can provide that function subject to given constraints.

Here are some examples of famous discoveries/inventions that resulted from analogical reasoning.

• Lord Kelvin developed the mirror galvanometer when he noticed how sunlight reflected from his monocle.
• The engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel invented the caisson from observing ships worms tunnelling through wood.
• Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod by observing that pointed rods discharged Leyden jars when in proximity to them.
• George de Mestral invented Velcro by using a direct analogy with plant burrs and dogs’ fur.

Velcro, close up.

Velcro, close up.

• The coronary stent, a device to reinforce an artery while permitting it to move in a natural way to support the flow of blood, was developed to physically resemble scaffolding, from which its inventor drew an analogy early in its development.
• The space coffee cup invented by astronaut Don Pettit works the same as the system that feeds fuel into the rocket engines when operating in zero gravity.
• The Dyson Vacuum may have been invented as a result of analogical reasoning about cyclonic air currents.
• Gutenberg probably based his invention of the printing press on wine presses common where he grew up.

Generating Embodiments by Analogy

Analogies are based on two different objects, phenomena, or technologies: a target and a source. The target is a function as defined by a Requirement of your project.

Once the target function has been identified, you then search of existing products, technologies, or biological systems that provide the same function. These are potential sources of analogy.

Next, for each source, you consider whether the source could be used as an actual embodiment for the target function. This will require considering if there’s a way to implement the source technology while satisfying the constraints on the source function. If there is, then you’ve just found a potentially novel embodiment.

Example: Lifting people and cargo