Grace Reynolds
Going into this class I was a little nervous because I have never taken, learned, or even heard about anything regarding digital making. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the world of digital making can be relatively easy to navigate with the proper instruction and hands on experience.
Throughout this class we have been introduced to many topics. We started off by exploring the history behind 3-D printing and its many uses. We then began to learn how to make our own 3-D prints on Fusion 360. Using Fusion 360 was a bit scary at first but with the help of our instructors and guided homework assignments it became not as intimidating. There are nine main areas that make up the Fusion 360 interface: application bar, data panel, profile and help, toolbar, browser, view cube, canvas and marking menu, navigation bar and display settings, and the timeline. Before I knew it, I was able to get a good feel for the Fusion interface and was able to create and print my very own designs. We then began learning about how we can print models that actually function. This is done through the assemble function in Fusion. Assembling can be done with either downloadable parts or your own unique sketches. Overall, getting a feel for 3D printing and the Fusion 360 interface was a bit challenging at first (due to my lack of prior knowledge), but ended up being one of the coolest and rewarding things I have learned to date.
We then were introduced to human centered design, which is an interdisciplinary, problem solving approach that identifies the unmet needs of a population in order to collaboratively develop solutions. This was when our groups got the opportunity to address an unmet problem on our very campus. We decided to narrow in on improving UIUC’s dining halls. We began with coming up with some questions regarding UIUC dining halls in hopes to uncover interesting insights that could turn the stories of others into possible solutions. From there, we entered the ideate phase the design process and began to brainstorm, propose, and plan ideas. We proposed several how might we questions that allowed us to further brainstorm the problems associated with UIUC’s dining halls and give us insight on which problem to really narrow in on. After this, we moved into the prototype phase where we thought about a physical design that would help tackle our problem at hand. Before learning about the phases of human centered design, I had no idea how many steps go into coming up with a solution for a problem, and I learned that this guided incremental process of thinking actually helps come up with better solutions.
Next, we were introduced to Arduino and learned how to skill build with tools such as laser cutters. This was definitely the scariest part of the semester for me, because I felt as though I was in over my head given that I have never worked with wiring or code before. However, the more I learned about Arduino the less scary it became. In order to test our understanding of both Arduino and laser cutting we were asked to laser cut and build a box out of plywood to create a 6-sided box to contain and demonstrate the completed LED Arduino board set-up. From this I learned about the importance of being precise and further developed my Arduino skills.
Our final project combined all of our learned knowledge throughout the semester: sketching and assembling on Fusion, human centered design practices, laser cutting, and Arduino. As mentioned before, my group decided to center our project around improving UIUC’s dining halls. More specifically improving the cleanliness and efficiency of UIUC dining halls by utilizing a microprocessor that would combat problems faced from uncleanly dining tables. After going through the design process, we were able to come up with a physical prototype that would propose a solution. Our design was a windshield wiper that would attach to the end of dining hall tables that could be turned on by the click of a button and would clean the table automatically as the student goes through the cafeteria and gets their food. The excess sanitizer and remnants of food would be collected by a narrow trash can attached to the side of the table. Our group manually sketched and 3-d printed the linkages that attached to wiper, laser cut and assembled the trash can, and wired and coded the motor to rotate in the proper 180-degree motion. Taking what we learned this semester and combing it into our final project was extremely rewarding. From this we not only better understood all of the topics we covered in class, but also learned the importance of staying up to speed and working together. Being in a group with people who all have conflicting schedules is not easy, however I learned it is important to be flexible, plan ahead, be open to new ideas, learn from mistakes, and allocate enough time to get the job done. Overall, this semester I have fostered my fusion, design, Arduino, and teamwork skills, and I am grateful to have been a part of such a unique class.
Upon my graduation from the Gies College of Business next week, I will begin to work as a risk and financial advisory analyst for Deloitte. While I do not believe I will be working with Fusion, Arduino, or laser cutters, I do think that the knowledge I gained from the human centered design workshop will play a role in my future at some point. That workshop truly changed the way I think about problems and showed me how important brainstorming and not jumping to conclusions is. As an analyst for Deloitte part of my responsibilities will be coming up with innovative solutions for clients. While I will not be building physical prototypes for these solutions, I can use some aspects of the design process seen in the synthesis and ideation phase. When coming up with solutions for clients I now know how important it is to highlight the most important insights from the stories they tell and look for opportunities and possible solutions within them. Much like the ideate phase of the design process, I will also keep in mind how important it is to fix and learn from my mistakes and be open to communication and feedback from either my co-workers or the client themselves. Additionally, the teamwork skills I gained from working on such a hands-on project will definitely contribute to my life outside this class. Not only for my job, but also generally in life, a large part of being successful is having the ability to work well with a team. I will take the teamwork skills gained from this class and apply them to my professional and social life going forward.
While I have gained an abundance of skills from this class, there is still much more for me to learn. For instance, I would like to know if any of what we learned regarding digital making could potentially be incorporated into my professional life. For instance, if there is some way to incorporate digital making into financial advisory and if it could be used as a method to effectively navigate business risks and opportunities. I would like to know if there is a chance that digital making may become a part of my future jobs, and if the incremental steps of the design process could become a template to tackle problems in the corporate world. While there is still much left to learn, I am confident that can take what I have learned from this class (from both successes and failures) and incorporate it into my future and apply it to situations that I am now prepared to take advantage of.
