Design for the Real Digital World

This week was held in the spirit of making and immersing ourselves into the inner workings of the Fab Lab. While the name of the course has the word digital in it, most of the activities consisted of discussing, sketching and working with hands.

In the first two days, we have developed concepts and designs for how we would like to improve our classroom. In the remainder of the week we have used the scraped material we have picked up in the streets of Barcelona and used the tools and machines available at Fab Lab to materialise those ideas.

Ingi was a great facilitator, giving just enough input to get us going without being prescriptive or limiting the scope of our ideas. Each of the 4 groups worked on different aspects of the classroom:

• Mini FabLab - A workspace on wheels with adjustable LED lighting, space for a 3D printer, soldering machine and a modular system for storing tools and electric components. Made mostly out of wood found on the street with a few off-the-shelf parts.
• CoffeeLab - A countertop for making coffee and tea with dedicated compartments for plants and space for collecting used coffee grounds to be later used as fertiliser and as a substrate for growing edible mushrooms in a mycelium growing kit which is also part of the setup. Made primarily out of wood from streets, scavenged ironing board and a few plants donated by students.
• ModPods & space enhancement - Multi-purpose plywood constructions that can be put on a table or ground. When on a table you can use them as a tool or book holder or to place your laptop on them at a slight angle and increased height supporting a better sitting posture. When on the ground they can be used as lightweight individual laptop stands or writing stations. If you put 9 off the ModPods together they form a small coffee table. The groups have also made various minor adjustments to the space, such as a magnetic wall, pin board, warped mirror and holders for electric plugs, phone chargers and pens. Most of the objects were made and put together using wood and material found on the street.
• MaterialLab and movable wall - A storage space for cataloguing some of the material that gets scavenged throughout the year. Made out of wood, table and shelves found on the street with a tiny 3D-printed table leg support. Recycling bins made out of a cupboard and movable wall-like structure on wheels made out of doors and 3D-printed hangers.

(I made up the names of the group projects for the purposes of this post)

Process over design

The course was a great example of embodied learning. Our group discussions often started with an attempt to describe our ideas with words and eventually always ended up with sketches and demonstrations using tools and materials at hand. The collaboration within our group was smooth with everyone complimenting each other neatly — everyone seemed to be knowledgeable in different aspects of the design/production process and was happy to share.

It was fascinating to observe the discrepancy between original designs and the actual production process. Once we agreed on the design, we excitedly jumped straight into building with everyone working on different parts of the project. We basically had no idea whether our finished product will work until we actually put everything together. This experimental approach allowed for lots of emergent ideas and on-the-spot solutions to various challenges encountered during the making process. While it was a fun learning experience, I quickly realised how such approach is not suitable for a more strict client-driven professional setting or high-stake projects such as healthcare or construction work where your designs have a direct impact on people’s lives.

Takeaways

It was inspiring to see how much could be achieved in such a little time with few scrapes and pieces found on the street. The course has also shown the importance of cross-disciplinary group collaboration – it was immensely valuable seeing how different people have different approaches and views of the same thing. Overall the course was rewarding group learning experience.

Measure twice, cut once.