The design of next-generation integrated systems requires that "Art", a mix of knowledge, experience, intuition and creativeness, be supported by "Science", i.e., design methodologies that provide rigorous foundations and guarantee correctness either by construction or by a set of powerful synthesis and verification tools. We present platform-based design as the overarching principle to develop a class of methodologies that satisfy in part the requirements set above. A platform is an

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... layer that hides the details of several possible implementation refinements of the underlying layers. We discuss the importance of carefully defining the platform layers and formally deriving the transitions from one platform to the next, including the role of top-down constraint propagation and bottom-up performance estimation. Finally, we present examples of these concepts at different key articulation points of the design process: system platforms and implementation platforms including analog design, thus covering the entire spectrum of design from conception and algorithms to final SoC implementation.