Making

About the Making silo

Making is the silo about turning ideas into objects. It covers materials, form, construction, models, fabrication, craft and prototyping, together with human factors and digital tools. Designers who understand how things are made design things that can actually be made.

The courses combine hands-on practice with the reasoning behind it. You learn what materials do, why joints fail, how to make a quick model that answers a question, and how digital fabrication changes what is possible. Ergonomics ensures that what you make suits the body that uses it.

Suggested learning path

1. Materials & Properties. This course introduces the main material families used in design and the properties that distinguish them. Covers material families, mechanical properties, surface, texture and finish and more.
2. Form Exploration. Form exploration is the deliberate search for three-dimensional shape. Covers why explore before you decide, sketching and massing, adding, subtracting and transforming and more.
3. Construction Techniques. Construction techniques cover how parts are connected into a structure. Covers loads, structure and stability, joints in wood, metal and plastic, fasteners and adhesives and more.
4. Model Making. Model making turns sketches into physical, scaled objects. Covers why make models, cardboard and foam models, clay and organic forms and more.
5. Digital Fabrication Basics. Digital fabrication uses computer-controlled machines to make physical things. Covers the digital fabrication workflow, 3d printing basics, laser cutting and engraving and more.
6. Craft & Precision. Craft and precision is the discipline of making things well. Covers the attitude of craft, measuring and marking out, cutting, joining and tolerance and more.
7. Prototyping Fundamentals. Prototyping fundamentals teaches how to make ideas testable. Covers what a prototype is for, low, medium and high fidelity, rapid making techniques and more.
8. Human Factors & Ergonomics Foundations. Every physical and digital artifact is used by a human body with measurable dimensions, reach, strength, and perceptual limits. Covers what human factors design actually covers, anthropometry: designing for real bodies, percentile sizing & fit ranges and more.
9. Digital Tools for Designers. Digital tools are the modern extension of the workshop, CAD, vector and raster software, and 3D modelling all sit alongside the physical making skills covered elsewhere in this silo. Covers digital tools as an extension of making, vector vs. raster: choosing the right medium, introduction to cad: parametric vs. direct modelling and more.

What you will be able to do

• Select materials for a function and process
• Build models at the right fidelity
• Design joints and assemblies that last
• Check a design against body dimensions and reach

How to study this

Read Materials and Properties and Prototyping Fundamentals first. Then make one model for every course you read, even a rough one, because making is learned by doing.

Who it is for

Product, furniture, fashion and craft students, interaction designers who work with hardware, and anyone moving from screen to physical work.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a workshop?

A basic set of hand tools helps, and many exercises work with card, foam and clay. Fabrication courses assume access to a lab or a service bureau.

Is Making only for physical products?

The reasoning about prototyping, tolerance and craft applies to digital and service design too.

How does this connect to Professional silos?

Product Design, Furniture and Interior Design and Lifestyle and Accessory Design build directly on these courses.