Before this past week’s session, I wanted to research more about the three different areas of CU’s Fab Lab. As I was perusing through their website, I found great resources to further my knowledge on the Fab Lab. In fact, CU’s Fab Lab has a YouTube channel! Check out their awesome videos here. After utilizing these outlets to learn more, I was more than thrilled to head back!

For the first workshop, I was placed in the embroidery area amongst several of my classmates. We learned the basic functions of the software and how to thread the sewing machine. For this past week’s workshop, our group relocated to the laser-cutting/design area. Duncan, who is employed at CU’s Fab Lab, lead our workshop. He ran through how to properly utilize the Inkscape software, the two types of laser engravers, and the differences between rastering and cutting.

I was having difficulty finding a design to raster onto a notebook. So, I decided to walk around and see what cool things my classmates were up to in order to gain some inspiration! By doing this, I got some great advice from Gwen, who told me to keep the design minimalistic and simple. In the end, this is what I chose to design:

I shared a picture of my newly-designed notebook via Twitter and received positive feedback. Check out one of the responses below:

This interaction led me to think about a variety of things such as personalized design/customization, production, and mass markets. Going forward, I hope to continually visit CU’s Fab Lab and expand my knowledge on all of its facets.