Optimization in the engineering design is to select the best of many possible design alternatives in a complex design space. One major problem of local minimization algorithm is that they often result in local optima. In this paper, a hybrid method was developed by coupling the genetic algorithm and a traditional direct search method. The proposed method first finds a region for possible global optimum using the genetic algorithm and then searchs for a global optimum using the direct search method. To evaluate the performance of the hybrid method, it was applied to three test problems and a problem of designing corrugate bulkhead of a ship.