Prototyping Prototyping

This M+P class we were asked to put 2 random (and cheap) objects together without thinking about what they will make too much. The idea was to spark the imagination process. “The aim of the workshop is to use ‘modelling and prototyping’ not as a way of testing ideas but as a tool to generate them”. 

We were asked things like: What will medical instruments look like in 200 years? What do medical instruments look like from non-western traditions? Can you work out what the object above is?

To join the objects we used the BIGGEST bag of sugru I’ve ever seen! And after making the object we swapped objects and created a fantastical story for another object. We asked questions like: if your object was used in medicine, what would it do? I made a story about a device that speeds up evolution.

I’ve never worked in this way before -usually I make things physically to get an idea of what it will be like -a prototype is a “proof of concept” or an iteration of the design. I loved how creative and free making things was without the weight of it having to be something. I am not sure how I would use this in my design practice, but will defiantly integrate the process into my design education practice.

Oh and the object at the top is a plaster (band aid) from Papua New Guinea.