N. P. Suh[7] suggests an axiomatic approach to design in which there are four domains:
customer domain, functional domain, physical domain, and the process domain. These
represent a range from "what" to "how," i.e., from a state of defining what the customer
wants through determining the functions required and the needed physical embodiment,
to how a process will achieve the desired end. He defines two axioms that need to be
satisfied to accomplish this:
I Maintain the independence of the functional requirements.
2 Minimize the information content.
The first of these refers to the need to create a complete and nondependent set of performance
specifications. The second indicates that the best design solution will have the
lowest information content (i.e., the least complexity). Others have earlier referred to
this second idea as KISS, which stands, somewhat crudely, for "keep it simple, stupid."
The implementation of both Dixon's and Suh's approaches to the design process is
somewhat complicated. The interested reader is referred to the literature cited in the bibliography
to this chapter for more complete information.