Dario Assante, Director of the IED Master Madrid, opted for the projects to be defined through the creation of prototypes of the designs presented in this edition of the Master of European Design Labs 2010.
In this edition of the Master of European Design Labs, the program’s final objective was for students to create a prototype that entirely and accurately represents their projects, including all of their qualities of shape, material and function. He explains: “We guided students in channeling the results of their personal research towards something physical – an object that contains a condensed version of the project’s entire conceptual development. The prototype is not a simple mock-up or model, which are merely metaphors of a project fixated on an intermediate phase of the creative process, but rather a completed piece, perfectly defined and finished, executed by competent, expert professionals.
This focus has obligated students to concentrate on their project’s ultimate objective from the get-go, to think about its definition far in advance to allow for precise technical development with enough flexibility. Teaching about synthesis, without losing the spirit of investigation of a laboratory of ideas such as European Design Labs, has been a challenge for the program’s entire academic team, from the Director and the Coordinator to the tutors.
To do this, we have simulated the real work process of a professional designer under ideal conditions, establishing timelines for research, introspection, cultural enrichment, learning about other realities and other skills and, finally, concretizing and completing final designs. Without a doubt, extremely interesting solutions and proposals arise along the way, which are equally deserving of the same dedication and development as the original project ideas. We allow each student to find their own way of saving these ideas, either postponing finalizing their definition for another time or saving them as testimonials of an experience. In day-to-day professional practice, considering a project to be finished is an eventual obligation, although sometimes difficult; but nothing impedes students from reviving what has been cultivated over the course of these months, as well as so many other experiences from the trips, seminars, workshops and meetings with professionals that have shared their ideas and profession with our students.”
Visualizing a proposal as a prototype may be the most powerful tool designers have at their disposal: with it, they can effectively communicate ideas and concepts using a universal language that anyone can understand.
Master of European Design Labs 2010
Inauguration, December 9 2010, 20hrs.
Dates: December 10-17, 2010, Monday to Friday: 10.00 – 21.00h.
IED Master, c/ Larra nº 14 Madrid
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