Level: U.G.

Instructors: Jeffrey Landman & Paul Pettigrew

Teaching Assistants: Prim Pimpakarn Rattanathumawat & Lauren Gideonse

Schedule: MW 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Room 7-434 Units: 3-3-6

HASS-A

Prerequisites: None

Class Overview:

4.021 How to Design introduces fundamental design principles as a way of demystifying design and providing a basic introduction to all aspects of the design process. Through lectures and exercises, students will develop skills of creativity, abstract thinking, represen- tation, iteration, and design development. 4.021 is an introductory class intended for students without a design background, geared towards enabling more effective collaboration with designers, and the ability to apply foundational principles of design to any disci- pline. Limited to 26; preference to Course 4 and 4B majors/minors, first- and second-year students.

The Design Process:

Each week the class will explore aspects of the design process from context to concepts, drawing, making, iterating, building a narra- tive and finally presenting. This path exemplifies a traditional design process where a designer starts with an idea and works through testing, expanding, refining, and eventually realizing their idea for review and evaluation. Through weekly topics and assignments, students will develop a variety of design skills relating to each stage of the design path.

Learning Objectives:

The course consists of three projects exploring various topics through concepts, drawings and physical fabrication. Students should be able to engage with an increasing level of design research through iterative studies and move fluidly between different modes and scales of operation. Conventions of design representation and communication through drawing and modeling will be explored. Students will need to demonstrate basic application of design skills, understanding of conventions, and an ability to sustain an increasing level of research in the projects over the semester.

“The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world. The tweaker inherits things as they are, and has to push and pull them toward some more nearly perfect solution. That is not a lesser task.” Malcolm Gladwell, The Tweaker, The New Yorker, November 11, 2011

“The danger is that Gladwell’s article will likely be misread in executive suites and boardrooms as confirming the wrong-headed idea that innovation should be cheap, easy and incremental and, no matter what, should not involve any serious invention. That is a recipe for near-term gain and long-term doom and, unfortunately, buttresses the misguided course being taken by more and more companies.” Chunka Mui, Innovators Beware: The Danger of Viewing Steve Jobs as a ‘Tweaker’, Forbes, November 15, 2011

Does the world really need another functional object? How is our process different if we set out to design with a noun in mind vs. a verb, i.e., “I would like to design and fabricate a desk organizer” is very different than “I would like to re-imagine how I interact with the objects in my everyday student dormitory life.”

Vessels for holding and storing were invented thousands of years ago but that hasn’t stopped nearly every generation since from evolving storage from one design to another via an ever changing assortment of materials, tools, and technologies. The history of functional object design is filled with inventors and tweakers. This semester 4.021 How to Design asks you to choose a path. Would you like to be an inventor or a tweaker? Initially we will study the histories of functional object inventors and tweakers to better under- stand the various processes used in the past to arrive at an invented or tweaked solution in the present. We will then use our investigations and acquired knowledge to forge our own path and evolve or invent the next generation of functional objects capable of reordering the activities of our everyday lives, improving our everyday lives or perhaps even changing the way we live.

Building upon the skills, techniques, and experiences you acquired working through and completing assignments 1 & 2, assignment 3 will ask you to design and fabricate function using a single sheet of metal of a given dimension, geometrically guided fabrication in-structions, and kinetic folding as a technique to transform a plane into a volume with a particular function of your choosing.

Working at full scale with function offers students the opportunity to experience in a single assignment through sketches, physical models, digital models, full-scale mock-ups and completed prototypes, the traditional design sequence of schematic design, design development, presentation drawings, fabrication drawings, fabrication, use, and analysis.

Progress in studio is a process. Work in the classroom and between classes is cumulative. Instructors and Teaching Assistants will review your work during studio providing you with feedback which you will incorporate into a revised or final version of your project for the next class. Iteration is a key condition of effective design. Make, critique, repeat, as many times as possible for best results.

03.28.22 (m) Presentation: Functional Object Design a History of Invention and Tweaking
Read Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Tweaker.”
Identify a design problem or opportunity in your dormitory room, apartment, everyday life that you feel might be an opportunity for tweaking or invention. Prepare (min. of) 3 sketches and/or diagrams, for next class, describing your proposed tweaks and/or inventions.

03.30.22 (w) Refine your concepts – narrow down to 1 concept and draw it clearly (by hand/sketch) Concepts should be about: 1. The function of the proposed object in relation to its context/the design problem its trying to solve/improve 2. Fabrication process – i.e., how is it might be made from a single sheet of paper/metal folded in such a way as to have structural integrity, perform its given function, and be graceful.

04.04.22 (m) Laser Cutting Tutorial & Folding Logic Draw your concept in Rhino and prepare your drawing for cutting on the laser. Using a piece of the supplied card- board, make a test cut of your concept. (Note: Supplied cardboard is 32”x40” Steel Sheet will be 24”x48”).

04.06.22 (w) Modify your concept and/or laser cut prototype based on the success (or failure) of your initial full-scale mock-up.

04.11.22 (m) Begin preparations for a mid-project presentation using the provided template including: Concept diagram, vector drawing of your 2d sheet & 3d folded functional volume, precedents/concept/context and full scale physical mod- els in cardboard.

04.13.22 (w) Student presentations/mid-project review. Prepare a presentation using the provided Miro template including: Concept diagram, vector drawing of your 2d sheet & 3d folded functional volume, precedents/concept/context and full scale physical models in cardboard.

04.18.22 (m) No class Patriots Day

04.20.22 (w) Modify your concept, diagrams, sketches, Rhino drawing, and/or laser cut prototype based on the feedback you received during our mid-project review.

04.25.22 (m) Metal Laser CutterTutorial & Desk Critiques

04.27.22 (w) Spray Painting Tutorial & Desk Critiques & final testing of Rhino file for metal laser cutter using cardboard for mock-up/test.

05.03.22 (m) Desk Critiques & prepare final preparations of Rhino file for metal laser cutter.

05.04.22 (w) Metal Laser Cutter.

05.09.22 (m) Begin/continue preparations for a final-project presentation using the provided template including: Concept diagram, vector drawing of your 2d sheet & 3d folded functional volume, precedents/concept/context and full scale physical models in metal.

TBD (?) Final project presentation. Prepare a presentation using the provided template including: Concept diagram, vector drawing of your light modulator, precedent studies, context, full-scale physical prototype, photographs, and time- lapse video(s).