After looking through the website for the digital making class I was excited to apply to join the class. The thought of entering in a maker space after volunteering in a fabrication laboratory during high school was exhilarating and nerve-racking. Although I had previous knowledge that this class was not limited to certain majors, I was not expecting to hear about and meet people from so many different backgrounds. It is rare to work in such an interdisciplinary group. I am excited to see how I will grow professionally and academically in this course.
For our first day of class, we were greeted with an assignment and experts/mentors. The goal of the assignment is to work in groups of three and four to create an idea for enhancing our expert users lives. The design method and process that we will utilize in this class is very different from what I’ve used in the past. Usually, I would think of the design process as a system of steps that are repeated until a final product is produced. These steps involve identifying a problem, designing a solution and prototyping until a final product is reached. However, in this class, we will eliminate identifying the problem out the process and replace it with finding ways to enhance our experts’ lives. This approach ties into other techniques we have learned so far that focuses on human-centered design.
A meeting with the experts and tour of the DRES facility was planned for the second week of class. During the tour, we had a chance to see where the athletes train and we also got the chance to go into the maker space that one of the experts utilizes for her business. Towards the end of class, we engaged in a group interview with the experts and mentors. This part was particularly interesting because it is common to hear people talk about themselves however, it is less common to hear people be vulnerable about issues that they struggle with. While taking notes during the interview I became conflicted with feelings of anxiety. I felt as if the expectations were high. Some issues/concerns that the experts brought up, such as affordability and insurance, were major. However, looking back it is clear that designing change has a lot to do with being comfortable with uncertainty and trial and error. I hope going forward to channel the confidence to take risks and push boundaries throughout the semester.
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