Designy: A Multimedia Platform for Supporting Student Prototyping in Product Design Education

Abstract

Copyright © 2019 ASME. In product design courses, prototyping offers a way for students to develop physical intuition about materials while practicing techniques used by professional designers. A web-based platform was developed to explore the use of multimedia to provide students with additional support for prototyping activities. The result is Designy (www.productdesigny.com), a platform containing a series of photo- and video-based resources meant to help students prototype effectively. Students in two product design classes – 2.00b Toy Product Design and 2.744 Product Design – were given access to Designy to aid in their project work. To better understand whether the platform was utilized by students and if access to the platform contributed to student learning and project work, researchers analyzed website activity data and interviewed students (n=19) to collect data regarding their experiences with the platform. A core group of 24 students (27%) in 2.00b and 29 students (35%) in 2.744 generated the most activity on the platform. Interview data indicates that students used the platform to answer prototyping-related questions when designing, to better understand the landscape of prototyping tools available to them, and to increase a feeling of confidence working in a prototyping shop. Overall, results suggest that while in-person interactions with staff members can better help students in situations where the support students need is poorly identified, Designy was shown to provide efficient support in situations when students could clearly identify the type of support they needed.