Outside-in strategies for design

This paper presents methods and strategies that help to redesign products from outside-in. In most cases, the predecessors of the components of a product and their arrangement are taken as input for a design change. The carry-over of the arrangement means a major limitation for styling changes of the outer shape. Due to complexity and the lack of outside-in strategies, the arrangement of the components is questioned insufficiently. Methods to support the outside-in path of product design deliver systematic procedures to resolve spatial conflicts, evaluate engineering constraints and anticipate change efforts. The objective is to help engineers and industrial designers in product planning and conceptual design to pre-estimate the effects of exterior design changes on the engineering solution.