The digital workshop zone of proximal development – student shopping amongst advanced production processes

Abstract

How do we train product design students’ creative skills using traditional material processing techniques and advanced production processes using Vygotzky’s zone of proximal development as a pedagogical tool? Over the years, the Department of Product Design at Oslo Metropolitan University has shifted its curriculum for investigating and processing materials from a focus on traditional analogue craft techniques assisted by digital tools to a focus on digital tools assisted by traditional techniques. The long-standing openness between vast workshop areas at the University creates a landscape of “makerspace shops” for students, meaning that their design ideas can be made into many different product designs and architectural touchdowns. This paper explores how design students in two courses used digital tools and methods in combination with traditional methods and materials. In one course, students explored and innovated new surfaces on textiles for products, art and interiors, using tools and techniques in collaboration with workshop areas other than their own. In the second course, students used 3D printing with clay, while investigating new surfaces, innovative patterns, colour explorations, and form. We found that practical material crossover experiences enhanced creative processes.