Critical Making Workshop
What is Critical Making anyway?
Feeling creatively blocked? Do you spend too much time just discussing ideas, or unsure of how to creatively collaborate? Are you drawing and drawing and drawing and feel rushed when you reach the prototyping and testing phase. Let us help you streamline and iterate to become a better maker and collaborator.
Critical making is a process that allows anyone to analyze, compare, and learn through making. It levels the playing field for designers and non-designers alike by empowering them to translate ideas into the physical world so that they can experience, share and validate them. In this workshop we will cover design thinking, ideation, translation of ideas from 2D to 3D, rapid prototyping, and communication of ideas to create a discourse. You will not only be able to try your hand at making and flex your creativity but also learn to collaborate and create a narrative to solve a user’s needs.
What will we be doing at the workshop?
We will be starting by developing a baseline of making skills, brainstorming, and going over the principles of Critical Making and then using those ideas of Critical Making as a catalyst to rethink the way that waste materials are sorted (Landfill, Recycling, and Compost). At RIT there is no continuity of the waste management system. The physical forms of the totes and cans, the lids that dictate what can be put inside and the messaging for local sorting guidelines are inconsistent across campus and even within each building. Our participants will brainstorm, prototype and propose solutions that will not only be more visually pleasing but possibly improve the function and possibly recycling rates on campus.
Summary of the day’s events
Day 1: Morning: Design Thinking, Brainstorming, and Skill Building
Afternoon: Group Problem Solving, and Presentation
What will we learn?
-Understand the benefits and applications of critical making as a way of exploring, testing and refining potential solutions
-Develop successful strategies for teamwork and interdisciplinary collaborations.
-Understand the connections and differences between critical thinking, critical making, problem solving and design process.
-Develop strategies for solving complex problems in society, such as waste management.
for a wide variety of contexts.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
This is an RIT Only Event
Interpreter Requested?
No