This week we had a great time working with the people from Design For America. They planned a great workshop for us explaining the process of design. During the workshop four different scenarios were presented involving four individuals who were blind. Each individual struggled daily in different areas of their lives adapting to the world around them since it changes so often today. We then formed groups and had to choose one of the scenarios and create a design that would help them resolve their daily struggle. The group I was in chose Jessica who is an undergraduate and would like to experience the social side of college more.  Since tailgating and football games were one of the main events spoken about we decided to focus on that struggle. We then designed a cover for a cup so she could recognize which one was her cup. In addition to that, she would be the only one that could open to be able to drink from it. This way she was always sure her drinks were safe.

Doing this workshop made me rethink the process of design. It made me realize that design isn’t just about how an object looks. As it was mention in “Design Thinking”, design is about creating ideas not just trying to dress them up.  Like the firm IDEO does, design should be a method of “meeting people’s needs and desires in a technologically feasible way and strategically viable way.” In order to continue in the entrepreneur world and reach a larger target market, you have to think more thoroughly of what your customer actually needs. I think several of the designs I saw in class were great given the amount of time and constraints we had.

The way I see it is if I am learning about 3D printing, I should use that knowledge to create products to improve people’s daily lives and not just on simply item like a hook. This definitely helped steer me in the right direction on thinking about my future project. Now that I have a further understanding of what design is I will also be able to use it further on in my project in the early stages it is now.