The first design studio class and it was extremely interesting to talk about the different roles prototyping can bring and what my role has been in the past using prototyping. While reflecting on this class and the 4 types of prototyping roles we discussed, I found myself looking back at my past projects and the roles I have used. Now looking at the future and the ideas I have about climate resistant design and using new materials to change a users understanding of a product and the lifecycle of said product I feel there is a lot of prototyping for me in the future as well..
An example is a 3d printing of mechanicals parts to see the physical properties and how they would fit together for a product. I feel this is a slightly more HiFi prototype but in the future this type of role can be used from the very beginning to test small ideas, forms or materials for myself and the project I view it could be used in. Then potentially creating more realistic prototypes and using them to confirm what I see the product as.
A good design is not only one that works as it is intended but also one that a user can understand and wants to use. With this in mind most of my designs in the past have been user tested. Here you can see a quick prototype to test the functions of a health ring for pilots. I really enjoy this role of prototyping because you can not only test the functionality but also the interaction with a user and community. I really hope that throughout my masters I continue to use prototyping to fulfill this need within my design toolkit
This is something that I am interested in using in the future and I feel I have only used a bit in some courses in the past. I think the thing that springs to mind is a course I did on form and senses where we didn’t really know what the final product would be or the function was but we focussed on experimenting with materials, light and sound. It was very different for me as I like the research and then iteration of a design process but it did allow for me to try things I hadn’t before. I feel that this could be particularly interesting with new materials as you can just go and try different things and see what comes out of it.
This is for me the least interesting role for my future and what I want to achieve I think. I like to get input from people and not only make them think of something but also set it to an action. With this role I feel that I would miss the interaction with the community as it is about how they experience it and not about collecting data. I feel that for some projects this could be extremely fruitful but for myself not an area I really see a future in at the moment.
Solar energy efficiency enhancement by Manuja Agnihotri
When looking at this I found it interesting as not physical prototypes were made to quickly get a look and feel for the functionality and shape of each one. So how I approached it was creating 3 mockups of the designs I felt were most promising. With this I looked at how their shape felt and for me which was the best one. Listen and look at the video to get a better understanding what I did and why.
In the world of design I have seen many things and created a network around me of various tools that can help during the design and research process. Yet while starting this masters and moving to Barcelona this has shifted me away from some things I know and also opened me up to new possibilities. That is why my toolkit at the moment is shown in the image below but I feel it will grow as the year progresses.
AI Website Generator