The word "elegance" has many meanings, such as refined grace and tasteful richness. In science, the word often means precision or neatness. In mathematics, it describes a solution that does the job as simply as possible.
Sports fans might describe a pole vault or discus throw as elegance in motion. Pole-vaulting is a complex motion, involving several kinds of leverage, coordination of running speed, contact to the pivot point, and lofting of the body in an arc with an elaborate twisting motion. Similarly, a discus thrower has to execute a powerful twisting of the body and extend the discus arm from its hip position to its release position. The discus must be released at just the right moment in the body's spin and along exactly the right plane in relation to the ground.
Both sports are meat and potatoes to sports simulation technology. In the past, athletes had to self-correct or rely on the guidance of a good coach. Today's pole vaulters and discus throwers have the benefit of instant replay and a dozen techniques to show them what they are doing, so that they can correct their stance, motion, positioning, and speed.
The design of products and manufacturing processes shares the difficulties and opportunities of the pole vaulter and the discus thrower. Industrial designer Raymond Lowey insisted that a design should display a just-noticeable difference. For Lowey, acceptance by the buying public was based on a product's being not too new and yet not the same, old thing. This meant introducing, for example, an unfamiliar curve here or there. Lowey did this with the Coca Cola bottle and the Avanti car; both were pinched in at the waist. Lowey used conventional manufacturing processes, but modified the products' look and arrived at a new elegance — and lots of sales in Coca Cola's case.
Some processes, such as aircraft design and manufacture, are great candidates for revision or fundamental change. The combination of CAD and composite-laying automation has made aircraft design a new endeavor of manufacturing and testing.
The difficulties of working with riveted metal have given way to the potential of drawing accurate curves and then matching the design with composite materials technology and new manufacturing automation. The dictates of the wind tunnel and the specifications of sheer strength can all be factored in. Testing new configurations under multiple types of air stress provides valuable feedback. Adaptations can then be made using CAD so that new configurations emerge with greater quality — let's call them, in mathematical terms, more elegant.
The meaning of "elegance" may be shifting from grandeur and richness toward high functionality with heightened simplicity. Being elegant means being parsimonious in design and manufacturing. It is the right line — form, process, or force — at the right place at the right time. It is elegance in action and we have never needed it more.
The best way to emerge from economic gloom is with fresh thinking and a goal of attainable elegance in product and process. It may be corny to say, but pessimism is best confronted with the best foot forward and a genuine smile. This could be good advice for discus throwers, pole vaulters, and manufacturers alike.