How to Write a Design Report

Table of Contents
I. Before you Begin ...........................................................................................1
II. Design Report Organization...........................................................................2
III. Format and Style ............................................................................................4
IV. Design Report Outline....................................................................................5
Volume I....................................................................................................7
1. Title Page ........................................................................................7
2. Executive Summary........................................................................7
3. Problem Definition .........................................................................8
4. Design Description .........................................................................8
5. Evaluation .......................................................................................9
6. References.....................................................................................10
Volume II.................................................................................................11
1. Problem Definition Support Documents ......................................11
2. Design Description Support Documents ......................................13
3. Evaluation Support Documents ....................................................14

I. Before you Begin

You need to understand what you are doing before you can write a good report.

Definition: A design report documents the solution to a unique problem.

Purpose: to communicate the solution to a problem.

Audience: anyone who has to implement your design, understand your design, or reference it to
solve their own unique problem. Typically, this is the project client. While the client may be
familiar with the project, the report is still written as thought the client is new to the project.

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II. Design Report Organization
A friend comes to you with a problem. “I haven’t been sleeping at night,” he says. You decide
to help out. Upon further study you find that he hasn’t slept on a box spring for three months,
has a persistent backache and has been on a 90-ounces-of-coffee-a-day diet since his last heat
transfer midterm.

Committed to your friend’s well-being, you take the appropriate action. You find a box-spring
on craigslist for free. You suggest the use of caffeine-free tea after 6 pm and recommend that he
play Bach softly as he falls asleep to drown out the sound of late-night buses. Your friend thanks
you for the best night’s sleep he’s had in a while.

Word spreads and it isn’t long before someone comes to you and says, “A friend of mine is
having trouble sleeping at night.”

What do you tell them? Do you say, “Easy, get a box spring and play Bach!?” If you did that,
they would be confused. This is how you would answer.

“My friend Tim was having problems sleeping at night. He had three problems. He had an
unsupportive mattress, he was drinking WAY too much coffee, and there are noisy buses passing
outside his window every night. I got him a new mattress, got him hooked on caffeine-free tea,
and had him play music to block out the background noise.”

If you stopped there, you would most certainly be asked one more question, “did it work?”
Therefore, you would continue.

“After we made those changes, Tim slept great for almost three weeks. He told me everything
was back to normal, and what’s better, he’s become a huge classical music fan. The only
drawback was getting the mattress for free off of craigslist. Next time I’d pay a little money for
one that was less dirty.”

This problem is not an engineering design problem, but the way in which it is documented is
identical. The documentation has three main parts: problem definition, design description, and
evaluation. All three are required to communicate your solution.

Figure 1: Design Solution Report Structure

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A Problem Definition
In this part you describe the problem you are about to solve. You provide sufficient detail so
someone can both understand why the problem is significant and how it has been solved in the
past. Your problem is further detailed by providing design requirements which the solution must
meet.

B Design Description
In this part you describe your solution to the problem. You describe what your solution is and
how it works.

C Evaluation
In this part you describe how you have verified that your solution works. You do this by
evaluating it against the design requirements you outlined in the problem definition. It is not
enough to simply provide a solution to a problem; you have to know it works. Evaluation could
be through experimental testing of a prototype, through analysis or by computer simulation
Lastly, this part describes the main strengths and weaknesses of the design and describes
recommendations for future work.

D Design Requirements
The design requirements are a central element to the design report and must be concrete,
measurable criteria which can be tested. They should be based on a user need. For example,
“supports 80 lbs” and “has an emissivity greater than 0.8” are concrete testable requirements.
“Looks nice, ” “comfortable, ” and “low cost are user needs and not design requirements. Refine
them to measurable criteria, like “aesthetically rated above average on a 5 point Likert scale” or
“can be held for 5 minutes without fatiguing the average user’s hand,” Or “parts cost less than
$20 in lots of 100.”

One last thing to consider when setting design requirements is that they must be tested by you. If
you do not (or can not) test them, even approximately, then they do not belong in the report. For
example, do not use the design requirement, “can withstand a half-mile drop test,” unless you are
going to either make an analytical model or empirically test out of a C-130.

F Design Reports versus Lab Reports

A lab report describes an experiment and its conclusions. It has four main parts: Introduction,
Methods, Results and Discussion. The major difference between design and lab reports is that
design reports do not include the method. When performing an experiment, the method which
you use to obtain an answer is necessary to validate the results. For example, when testing the
emissivity of a material, the difference between using a thermopile and using an energy balance
will affect the results.

The absence of a methods section in a design report will be disconcerting when writing your
report. You might have spent up to half the semester considering different concepts before
choosing one, but ultimately you won’t write about that process. The audience only cares what
you came up with. If you find you are writing more than a paragraph about your concept
selection process, you’re writing too much.

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III. Format and Style
A Voice
The report can be written in either passive (“a concept was selected”) or active (“we selected a
concept”) voice. Pick whichever sounds more natural and be consistent.

B Tense
Use past tense to describe what you did or found out. For example, “We built and tested a
prototype.” Use present tense to describe things that were known before your project. For
example, “Squirrels are warm-blooded.”

C Self Supporting
Your report should provide enough information to be understood. It shouldn’t reference outside
sources for information that is essential to understanding.

D Technical Writing
The basis for technical writing is to communicate information as clearly and effectively as
possible. You should not use language that is excessive or complex. This is typically done by
writing at an 8th grade level. This does not mean you have dumb down your engineering. Define
terminology that might be confusing and avoid wordiness. Don’t be dramatic; drama is used in
creative writing to elicit an emotional response. Technical writing is centered on the use of
logic.

E Headings and Sub-Headings

Divide your information up into small, manageable chunks. Use headings to categorize the
information so people can easily find it. You should have at least one heading on each page.
Number the headings to show the organizational structure.

F One Idea per Paragraph

Only include one idea in each paragraph and put it in the first sentence. It’s OK if the resulting
paragraph is short. People would rather read several small blocks of text than one big one.

G Margins, Spacing, and Numbering

Use 1” margins, 12pt font, single spacing. Either indent at the beginning of a paragraph or add a
blank line between a paragraph, not both. Number all pages and provide headers and footers
sufficient to orient the reader to their location within the report.

H Report Length
The executive summary should be a page, with approximately 30% of that space occupied by a
figure. Volume I of the report should be between 20 and 25 pages, with no more than about 25%
of that space occupied with figures and tables. There is no limit to Volume II. The purpose of
the length requirement is to keep your writing focused and concise.

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IV. Design Report Outline
There are three major levels of detail in the design report, starting from simplest in the executive
summary, and advancing to the most complex through Volume I and Volume II

Figure 2: Comparative Sizes of Report Sections

Volume I
This 20 – 25 page document describes the project clearly and concisely. It contains the problem
definition, design description, and evaluation

Volume II
This large second volume documents the design in excruciating detail. It contains elements of
Problem Definition, Design Description, and Evaluation. Volume II contains all of the
supporting information for your project.

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Ordering the Sections
The overall structure of the report will look as follows.

Figure 3: Major Section order of Volumes

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Volume I
Volume I has three main parts: problem definition, design description, and evaluation as shown
in the following figure.

Figure 4: Design Report Structure

In addition Volume 1 has a title page, an executive summary and a list of references.

1 Title Page
The title page has the project title, team members, advisor name, client name, the date, and one
graphic that best shows the design solution.

2 Executive Summary
The executive summary distills your entire report onto a single page that is about 70% text and
30% graphic. The executive summary contains a succinct synopsis of the problem definition, the
design description and the evaluation. .

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3 Problem Definition

This section provides the background and significance of the project, and a state-of-the-art
technical review

3.1 Problem Scope

This is a short paragraph describing what the problem is. Explicitly state the problem you have
solved.

3.2 Technical Review

This section describes why the problem is important. It is a long section providing background
information of the problem. It contains a state-of-the-art technical review that brings the reader
up to speed to the current state of the field which you are working in. Chances are that the reader
is not an expert in the field, as you are. Even if the reader is an expert, he or she will appreciate a
comprehensive review of the field.

The review has two parts. The first part is a more detailed background to the field. For example,
if you are developing a medical device, the background would be a tutorial on the medical
condition being treated by the device.

The second part of the review describes all of the prior art relevant to the problem, which means
all of the existing technology and methods relevant to the problem. This can include commercial
products, academic journal articles and theses, and patents.

The technical review will have many citations to the source of the information with citations
listed in the Reference section. Citations and references should follow IEEE or ASME style.

3.3 Design Requirements

In this section, you outline three to five concrete, measureable design requirements which are
driving your design. Only list requirements that can be tested. Additional requirements are
listed in Volume II. For each requirement, indicate the source and why it is important. Use
subheadings, a numbered list or a table.

4 Design Description
This section describes your solution to the problem. It describes both what the solution is and
how it works.

4.1 Summary of the Design

In a few paragraphs, summarize your solution. Describe what it does and how it works. You
may want to describe a scenario for its use. It should be apparent here how this is a solution to
your problem. Include an overview line drawing, if appropriate, but no photographs

4.2 Detailed Description

This section contains the detailed description of the design solution. This should be of the how
stuff works or popular mechanics variety. Start by describing your solution and how it works at

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a high level, but then do a functional decomposition of your solution. This is your design
architecture.

4.2.1 Functional Block Diagram

This is a figure which represents the different functions of your design and how they work
together. This should show three to five functions of your solution in block diagram form.

4.2.2 Functional Description

After you have created the Block Diagram above, describe each of these functions in their own
section here. Try to describe how each of these functions works instead of just saying what that
are. For example, if one of your functions of your solution is the gripping of a pencil, describe
how the linkages work together to perform this task instead of describing the individual hardware
pieces. Provide a sub-heading for each of these functions.

4.2.3 Overview Drawing

For each of the functions you are describing, provide an annotated line drawing to describe how
it works. Line drawings are better than photographs, which is why line drawings are used in
patents.

4.3 Additional Uses

In this section, write a short paragraph to describe the other uses that your solution has. These
aren’t necessarily uses which you have designed for, but other applications which could benefit
from the work you’ve done in your area. These don’t have to be fully developed solutions, but
rather ideas which could be pursued in the future by others. This section also describes any
feasible variations of the design.

5 Evaluation
In this section, you verify the solution you have provided. You do this by looping back to the
design requirements you established in the first section.

5.1 Evaluation Plan

In this section, restate the three to five design requirements which you established in the first
part. Then give an overview of the test plan for evaluating each requirement..

5.2 Evaluation Results

For each of the design requirements, describe how it was evaluated. The evaluation should be of
a lab report format, meaning there is an introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Each of
the design requirements will then have a small lab report to show its verification. In this section,
only provide an abstract for each of these reports. The actual report should be in Volume II.
Create a sub-heading for each of the design requirements.

If you developed a prototype to satisfy a design requirement, this is the section to discuss it. The
prototype will be the method section for an experimental report to test one or more design
requirements.

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Evaluation methods are not restricted to laboratory experiments They can be a computer
simulation, hand analysis, or a user survey. They only need to use the experimental method to
answer a research question.

The four major parts of a lab report are introduction, methods, results, and discussion. In the
introduction, state what you are testing and the theory behind it. In methods, describe how you
tested these requirements. In the results section, show the results of the testing. In the discussion
section, interpret the results and make a conclusion on the testing of the design requirement.

The abstract for these small lab reports should include parts from each of the four I M R D
sections.

5.3 Discussion

5.3.1 Strengths and Weaknesses

Now that you have shown you design solution, how it works and why it works, describe its
strengths and weaknesses. Be candid about this section. No one every produces exactly the
results they desire and you always learn things as you progress. It is better that you discuss
possible flaws with your design and have an opportunity to rebut them than to have the reader do
that.

5.3.2 Next Steps

In this section you discuss how your project will affect the future workings of your project
company. Imagine you are the project advisor for the company. How will you use the results of
this design? Project advisors are busy and probably won’t have the time to do any new design
work. You’ll have to explicitly state the next steps to take so the advisor could delegate tasks to
someone else. You are trying to add value to the sponsoring company, so a well thought out
hand-off plan will be crucial to doing that.

6 References
This section contains a list of the references cited in the report. . Use IEEE ASME format for
these citations. Use RefWorks to manage your citations.

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Volume II
Volume II is a compilation of support documents to the main report. It is structured similarly to
Volume I, but less rigid. The information contained here should be referenced in the main
report. Treat these supporting documents as appendices in that regard.

These supporting documents won’t flow along the same way as the main report. The reader will
come to this section when they seek additional information not found in volume I. This becomes
a reference and only these mini-reports need to flow, not volume II as a whole.

Volume II is organized into the three main sections, like Volume I.

Figure 5: Volume II Outline

1 Problem Definition Supporting Documents

In this section, you describe additional information you have to define the problem. All of these
documents might not be applicable, so choose those related to your project.

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1.1 Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a state-of-the-art report on academic literature. Typically, this has
two sections: summary and references.

The summary section is first and summarizes the material that was researched. There is usually
one paragraph spent describing the current state of the field. Then the remainder of the page is
spent discussing how the research affects your design project.

The references section is simply a big list of the references you researched, separated by a
paragraph or two of discussion. The citation style is ASME or IEEE. Include a very brief
summary of the article. This is mostly so you can find the article later from fragments you
remember. Then your second paragraph discusses the implications this article has for your
report. If it does not apply to your design, just state that.

1.2 Patent Search

A patent search is a report of the patents related to your design. It is done to find if your design
is patentable and to get product ideas for your design. Both products and processes are
patentable.

The patent search should have three main parts: objectives, search criteria, and findings.

The objectives section should show why you are doing the patent search. Give a brief overview
of your design and what parts of it might be patentable.

The search criteria are the ways which you found the patents. Show the databases you searched,
like Google or USPTO. Give class and sub-class numbers which you searched in. State the
keywords you searched as well.

The findings section should describe one or two main patents which relate to your project.
Explain why your sponsor would want to know about these and how they relate to the design.
Assess the level of threat these patents pose to your design’s patentability.

After the major findings, you can discuss some smaller risk patents that might have features of
interest to your sponsor.

Attach the front page of any relevant patents as an appendix to this report. Do not attach patents
in the appendix if you never discussed them.

1.3 User Need Research

In this section, attach research you did into user needs for your design. This includes surveys,
interviews, or focus groups.

List user needs for your project here. Rank them by priority and provide their sources.

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The object of this section is to show where your user needs came from and how you determined
their priority. Sufficient detail should be provided here so it doesn’t appear that your user needs
were simply picked out of thin air.

Attach interview transcripts or survey data as an appendix to this section.

1.4 Concept Alternatives

In this section, you discuss other concepts you considered to solve your design problem. This
should not be a methodology of your concept selection process. It shows that your chosen
concept was picked from a pool of closely qualified applicants.

Provide a categorical approach to presenting different concepts here. Do not simply paste in fifty
concept sketches and let it be sufficient. Group your concepts into a few main categories and
provide an example or two from each category. Briefly describe how each concept would work.

1.5 Concept Selection

This section shows how a concept was chosen from the pool of concepts above. You do this by
creating a concept selection chart. List a handful of potential concepts and the criteria you used
to evaluate them. Describe what the criteria were and how you evaluated them in the text. Do
not simply paste in a concept selection chart. Introduce the idea and then discuss what you
found.

At the end of this section, discuss the validity in your chosen concept. Persuade the audience
that you chose correctly and justifiably.

2 Design Description Supporting Documents

Choose either the manufacturing plan or the implementation plan based on the type of project
you have. Manufacturing is for a tangible product, whereas the implementation is for a process.

2.1 Manufacturing Plan (Product)

This manufacturing plan details how someone can either make another or start producing the
product you have designed. They should be of sufficient detail so you could hand them off to a
machinist and get a finished product back.

2.11 Manufacturing Overview

This overview describes the different steps which are involved in the production of your widget.
Think of it like your response to the question, “How is your design made?” This is a high-level
description of the manufacturing process.

2.1.2 Part Drawings

Drawings of your product should appear in the manufacturing plan. They can be either CAD or
hand drawn, but must not leave any part of the design undefined.

2.1.3 Bill of Materials

Provide a bill of materials needed to construct your product. This would be everything the
machinist would have to order, aside from tools, to make it.

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2.1.4 Manufacturing Procedure
This is a step-by-step procedure required to manufacture the widget. You’ve seen these before
with a piece of furniture. They are of the “tab A in slot B” variety. This should leave no
ambiguity in the way your product is assembled.

2.2 Implementation Plan (Process)

This plan details how the process you have designed is put to use. It should be sufficiently
detailed so you can hand it off to a company and they can implement it.

2.2.1 Implementation Overview

Describe here at high level the way your process design should be phased into operation. It is an
answer that you would give to someone who asks, “how does your process get put into effect?”

2.2.2 Process Drawings

Include in your implementation plans drawings which are needed to carry out the process. These
might be block drawings, Gantt charts, or a work breakdown structure.

2.2.3 Component List

Make a list of anything you’ll need, aside from tools and labor, to make put your design process
into effect.

2.2.4 Implementation Procedure

This section describes a step-by-step method for putting your process into effect. If it is a
modification of an existing method, it should show how the old system would be removed while
maintaining all the functionality.

3 Evaluation Supporting Documents

3.1 Evaluation Reports

This section contains the research reports that validate the design criteria. Every design criteria
listed in Volume I is explicitly evaluated. The evaluation reports from Volume I are simply the
abstracts from these evaluation reports.

For each report, have an introduction, method, results, and discussion section. If the same
apparatus or method is used to evaluate different criteria, there is no need to re-describe your
previous explanation.

In the introduction, describe the design criteria being evaluated.

In the method, describe the way that you tested the design criteria. The apparatus for this testing
might be a prototype, computer simulation, physical experiment, or hand analysis. Include the
procedure for your testing as well.

In the results, describe the results of the testing you performed. This should show the analysis
equations and a graph or other graphic result.

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In the discussion, evaluate your results from this experiment. Interpret their quality and their
implications. Describe strengths and weaknesses of your experiment. Describe how the results
of this evaluation impact the design.

3.2 Cost Analysis

In this section, you will describe the cost of your design. These are the costs a company would
assume for either making your product or implementing your process. This cost would be
separate from the cost of a prototype you may have made.

Consider reasonable costs for materials and production labor.

Contrast these costs with the sales potential. State the market your design would serve. If a one-
off, state the cost savings of your design versus others. The idea is to give the sponsor company
an impression of the value added to them by your design.

3.3 Environmental Impact Statement

This section outlines the impact your design has on the environment. Every design impacts the
environment in some way. Read the design for environment webpage for more info:
http://www.me.umn.edu/dfe/.

An environmental impact statement has four main parts: purpose and need, impact to
environment, alternatives to design, and discussion.

In the purpose and need, briefly describe the value added by your design. What good does your
design provide for society?

In the impact to environment section, describe how your design is going to change the
environment by its existence. Think of the impact during the whole phase of product life:
production, use, and end-life. Does it pollute? Is it user-serviceable? Is it disposable?

In the alternatives to design section, give alternatives to your design that might be more
environmentally friendly. Might you consider an end-of-life reclamation program? What about
using biodegradable lubricants?

In the Discussion section, weigh the alternatives with the additional cost. Show how you have
considered the environment in your design. You might decide it would be better to compromise
and propose future work to your design. This is an extension of your strengths and weaknesses
analysis from Volume I.

3.4 Regulatory and Safety Considerations

Describe the regulations which apply to the use or production of your product. List safety
concerns which you have for the use or production of your product. Provide recommendations
for each of the concerns you have listed. There are no ‘outlaw’ unregulated products.

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