Our next few classes are taking place at the Fab Lab. We toured the facility, and we had the opportunity to see the different types of fabrication that is done there. I had no idea that the lab existed on campus, and as a second-semester Senior, I wish I had known earlier. My mind was blown at all of the cool things that are happening at the Fab Lab! Check out the photos below to see some things that have been made there.
A table of things made at the Fab Lab. 
Plastic spikes that were 3D printed onto fabric. 
A box made from wood and strips of LED lights.
After taking the tour, we split into 2 groups; one group worked with a laser cutter and another built circuits. I was in the group that built circuits, and we used simple watch batteries to illuminate an LED light. We observed change in brightness of the LED when a resister was used versus when no resistor was used. Also, we utilized a multimeter to measure the voltage of the battery and strength of the resistor. You can see the finished circuit below.
One of the staff members, Brandon, also showed our group a keyboard that he created. He created it by laser-cutting spirals into wood and metal tape. I was impressed by Brandon’s creativity to design a working keyboard out of affordable and available materials. Below are pictures of the keyboard Brandon made.
Laser-cut wooden spirals on the top of the keyboard. 
Metal tape on the inside of the keyboard. 
Copper tape on the inside of the keyboard.
The last hour of class was spent brainstorming different designs for our teams’ products.
Sheet of brainstorming designs.
The above pictures illustrates my team’s brainstorming session. The class TA’s gave us new prompts every 3 minutes for the designs. For example, one prompt was to design our products if we were designing it for children and another was if we were designing it with an unlimited budget. This brainstorming activity was challenging because we had to keep an open mind and draw as many different designs as possible. It was hard because I already had an idea of what the product would look like, so I had to keep an open mind when drawing these designs. The assignment for the week is to create a prototype of our design; my team chose to create a prototype of a shoe tread that has velcro straps and a few metal spikes on the bottom.
Hi there! I am a Senior studying Marketing and Information Systems/Information Technology. I chose to take this course in order to expand my creative and design thinking skills that I can apply to my future career. I am grateful that we are provided the opportunity to take this course as Business majors.
Hi Emma! I completely agree that knowing about the Fab Lab earlier in my college career could have given me a different college experience. Now that I do know about it, I hope to use it to advance my curiosity and creativity when it comes to designing, even for simple tasks such as putting patches on a jean jacket. As for your project, it looks like you guys did a great job coming up with a variety of different solutions. Keep up the great work!