Material Science for Designers

For too long designers have had to wade through the arcana of science, engineering and physics textbooks to perform one of their essential roles - analyzing and selecting materials. With the publication of Materials and Design in 2002 (see sidebar), that arduous task has changed. The design community now has access to information written in their language and focused on their needs. (It will come as no surpise to readers that one of the authors, Mike Ashby, is a lecturer at UK's Royal College of Art.) Although wood/fibre materials are barely mentioned, the significant data for metals, plastics and composites are presented with the support of an impressive array of charts (maps), diagrams and colour photographs.