Creative Tech Week

This workshop is a hands-on introduction to prototyping interactive installations through low-tech tools and materials. We’ll begin with an introduction of our methodology, which involves breaking concepts up into bite-size challenges, and categorizing them by challenges of experience, aesthetics, or technicality. We’ll then survey a range of prototyping techniques, focusing on “bodystorming” (live role-playing) and paper prototyping. Within this, we’ll show how a series of high-tech projects began with simple cardboard mockups.

After this brief introduction, participants (working in groups) will be given a simple prompt to quickly concept an architectural-scale installation. They will be tasked with producing a human-scale, acted-out mockup within an hour. We will help them think through tasks and build, but will be stressing the importance of thinking of the physical making as “sketching” in space–that ideas aren’t precious, and prototypes are for working through problems, not making the perfect installation.

Finally, the groups will be invited to present and act out their concepts to the larger group, and to share their immediate learnings from the process.