I found this very interesting.

One of my favourite courses when I was finishing up my engineering degree was product design. It introduced elements of industrial design, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), product functional decompositions (PFDs), and rounded them together very nicely to give us a feel for what a good design entails.

All during school, we're taught how to simplify structures or products, and then crunch some numbers or model the item in question to make sure it won't fall apart. Not once (until that product design course) were we taught the importance of synergy between form and function...

This is what makes Apple's and Dyson's products so popular. They manage to strike the balance so nicely, and that is what all engineers should strive to do. I wish my job involved product design....