Digital Drawing Demystified: Exploring a Creative Zone of Proximal Development

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the theoretical notion of Vygotsky’s notion of a ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) where learning is supported by doing things together. In the work life product designers are expected to master and use digital tools. This must therefore be integrated in a pedagogically appropriate manner of teaching. Research has shown that there are many students who do not use digital tools despite that they have been trained in programs. Generally, it is a challenge for interdisciplinary processes that terminology is so advanced that it reduces communication across groups, according to Donald Schøn who have studied reflective practice for professionals. This challenge also applies at educational levels in the meeting between product design and advanced digital tools. There is therefore a need for teaching methods that facilitates this connection without using too complicated terminology. The goal is to make the subject more transparent for students learning strategies. Being a professional product designer requires that one can create prototypes as an illusion of finished products that is understood by a customer, retail, distributor or manufacturer. The research question in this study was therefore how to develop a creative zone of proximal development (CZPD) that bridges the gap between manual product design and digital tools? The methods used were based on learning in communities of practice where teacher and student works in teams. In this project, the students were tasked to design and produce a physical three-dimensional product. In parallel with the students the teacher solved the same task as a professional designer. By showing working process the goal of the teacher was to demystify development process and demonstrate how various tools could be used in a way that was timesaving and useful. The method involved to show in lectures and under supervision how the designer alternately can use analogue and digital tools throughout the design process. Some of the students did not use the 3D application because they were afraid of making mistakes. The teacher emphasized that the tools initially were used so that they were valuable for idea development at a personal level. It was shown examples of how sketches in SolidWorks was used to find critical goals and feasible solutions, and how to go in and out and use all the tools while sketching tools, and without that the drawings had to be properly constructed. The goal was to lower the threshold for students to use the program. Some students worked with water cutting, milling, pairing 3d print in polymeric materials, 3d print in ceramics and additive manufacturing. Although this is not new technology, there is a need for a variety teaching methods to some extent demystify the process of developing and designing a product. The CZDP method can help students to a playful and more informal approach to the process in which they learn that the creative dynamics between the physical world and the digital tools, the imperfect and the perfect, may be a rewarding approach to develop new and innovative products.