As early as 1952, the General Motors Research Laboratories (GMR) was using a card-programmed digital computer for engineering and scientific analyses. However, notably absent from the applications were problems related to graphical design. To gain an insight into the automotive design process, research personnel began discussions with General Motors (GM) engineers and designers. It soon became obvious to the researchers that drawings, pictures, and models were the principal media for communication and documentation of design ideas. As a result of these discussions, four distinct type of man-machine communication were identified:

1. Existing engineering drawings. The research project was realistic enough to realize that computers could not replace all the drawings used in the design process. Therefore, it was concluded that a computer system must provide means for reading existing engineering drawings and for creating these drawings. Fortunately, because of the nature of automotive design, body drawings are primarily drawn to scale on a background of grid lines with no dimensions. Digitizing this line information seemed to be a feasible task.

2. Interactive manipulation of graphic information. The design process frequently involved one person indicating a problem on drawings to another person and then their joint exploration of potential changes to the drawing. It had to be possible to "point to" or indicate the location of the location of the problem, and to made an immediate change so that the implications of the change could be evaluated.

3. Comparison. Often there was a need to compare last year's design with the latest design effects. In most cases, what was desired was the ability to overlay or superimpose one drawing on another so that the differences between two graphical images could be seen. Obviously, if both designs were represented by mathematical models, they could be displayed in different colours on a screen. However, colour displays were not yet commercially available. In addition, it was assumed that much of the archival design information would be available only in the form of drawings.

4. Nongraphical information. At that time, the commonly used method for communicating numbers and text to computers was via punched cards, which were read in batch mode. Interactive terminals that would provide immediate access to computer processing power were still years in the future. It was deemed that interactive or "immediate" input of moderate amounts of alpha-numeric information would be an important part of an effective design environment.

As a result, GMR began a study of the potential role of digital computers in the graphics aspects of design. The question that was being asked was, "How could computational techniques significantly impact the design process?" A series of feasibility experiments led to the decision to establish a more comprehensive laboratory for studies in man-machine communication. The facilities were to permit the computational power of a larger-scale digital computer to be brought to bear on the problems of graphical design, while recognizing the essential part played by the human in the design process. The initial goal of the project was the establishment of a laboratory that would permit "conversational" communication between individual and computer and provide a platform for experimentation in the design process. This goal was achieved in 1963 by the DAC-1 project.