WHAT WE ARE MAKING

WHY WE ARE MAKING IT

Students will start developing sketch models, made quickly, that illustrate a form or idea.

Develop hand crafting skills that we will use throughout the studio

STAGES OF PROTOTYPING

SKETCH MODELS

ITERATIVE PROTOTYPING

FULL-SCALE PROTOTYPING

1

2

3

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Cardboard

Colored Acetate

Bristol Papers

Zip-ties

Straws

Metal Ruler

Pencil

Markers

Cutting Blade

Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

String

Brads

Popsicles and wooden skewers

+ MEDIUM

1st

2nd

Select your final idea from your sketches, don't worry about selecting your final design, while building you will keep on iterating and changing!

You will undertake a safety orientation, where you will learn to use the basic tools of prototyping such as gluing techniques and cutting tools

**Refer to the "Safety prototyping" Folder in the Toolbox

CARDBOARD CUTTING TIPS

Use the lines on the cutting mat and the ruler to cut straight and perpendicular lines 

Carefully draw on the cardboard the lines you want to cut first, then use your blade to trace them

Many light passes with the cutting blade will result in a cleaner cut than one strong push through the cardboard

SCORING CARDBOARD FOR BENDING

STACKING CARDBOARD FOR VOLUME

CUT CURVES BY MAKING MANY SMALL SLICES

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: SHAPING

Bending

Scoring

Curving

Faceting

Layering

Hinging

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: JOINERY

Brads

Flanges

Brace

Skewer

Bend

Hinge

Slots

Butt Joint

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: Mechanism

Scissor lift

Grabbing

Waving

Tentacle

Curving

Sprin

Pulley

Cam & Follower

3rd

Develop a blueprint of your design that communicates both form and function. Your drawing should include labeled parts, materials, dimensions, and annotations explaining how the design operates and how users interact with it.

Go over the presentation found in the TOOLBOX and start making! You will make a low-fidelity prototype of your chosen design. This prototype will allow you to test your idea on your site, and actually get user feedback, and see if it creates delight.

4th

5nd

Take good photos of your project

5th

Take clear photos and videos of your model against a white background, and submit them.

Make sure to capture close-up shots of any moving parts, and turn those into GIFs using this website: https://ezgif.com/maker

Below are some resources you can use to document your work, both for scanning drawings as well as photo/gif editing tools.

1) Scanner app (Genius Scan)

2) Gif maker (GIF Maker by Momento)

https://ezgif.com/maker https://gifmaker.me/

3) Photo editor / Camera app (VSCO or Adobe PS Express) VSCO Link Adobe PS Express Link https://www.photopea.com/

For photographing prototypes, we recommend everyone using a consistent white or black backdrop. Paper, sheets, walls/desks all work well for this.

DOCUMENTATION

CREATE A STATION

Ensure the entire background is white and that natural light is available. For photographing prototypes, we recommend using a consistent white or black backdrop—paper, sheets, walls, or desks all work well.

Different Angles

Try different angles, top, left, right, close ups... but also try different lighting setups, Camera Settings, and Composition

Clean Images

Make sure all background is white, no edges or other objects in the background

YES

NO

Clean Images

Make sure all background is white, no edges or other objects in the background

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

Now that you have built it out of cardboard, what would be the best materials and methods for the next prototype?

You have built and tested one possible shape of this enhancement. What other shapes could this concept take?

What do you need to learn to create the next, more developed prototype of this concept?