The Design Notebook

The Design Notebook is:

• A record of your personal contributions to the design project.
• A resource file for helping you to write reports and prepare presentations.
• Your notebook is your primary way of covering your butt when things begin to go wrong!
  As you develop your project it becomes an archive of the:
• Options considered
• Discussions, phone calls etc.
• Team meetings
• Calculations
• Experiments
• Sources used (a running bibliography)
• Time spent
• Money spent
• Contacts
• Research Data
• Evidence in patent and product liability cases.

Some basic rules of style:

• The book itself should have "permanent" pages, preferably sewn in. Do not remove pages.
• Entries should be made in ink.
• Use both sides of the page, do not leave empty space.
• Number all pages consecutively and date each entry.
• Do not erase strike through errors with a single line OR cover them with white-out.
• Have your faculty mentor, or another ME 470 faculty member, witness your notebook at least once a week throughout the year.
• TAPE (using scotch tape or equivalent) any loose pieces of paper you want to include in your notes the book will stay neater if you tape all four edges.

Your notebook does not have to be neat, but it does have to be complete! If you do not document what you did, when you did it, then your subsequent explanations when things go wrong will appear to be very lame, at best!