DGDL at MakerFestival 2018
Daily Goods Design Labs [DGDL] hosted a formal co-design space at Maker Festival. Two years ago we ran a ‘Women that Make, Create and Innovate’ speaker event . Our stand, at the 2nd Floor ‘Sandbox’ this July, had an un-ending stream of makers, young and old, dropping by to co-create with us as hundreds of people attended over the two days.
FutureCar Co-create at the Sandbox
Saturday started with our FutureCar co-create. Dozens of kids drew, coloured and conceived their dream cars-of-the-future. Augmented technology and user-friendly designs were at the forefront for most, from a bubble car with pet seats (Paisley, age 6) to a driverless car that had an early-warning system for emergency vehicles (Maya, age 8). In between co-creating, the DGDL team demonstrated a prototype of our programmable KitCar to show how the FutureCar exercise could be developed further using STEM skills.
Make Create Innovate Devices and Wearables Workshop
Later that day, on the official Maker Festival workshops schedule, we hosted our first ever MakeCreateInnovate [MCI] device and wearables workshop. DDGL Founder Renn Scott led the session with some food-for-thought on the current state of smart devices and then parents and kids co-created a new device to fit their lives.
Using our ‘design-thinking’ approach, they imagined who the device/wearable was for, where and why they needed or wanted it. From there they built concept prototypes from their individual imagined scenarios, and then parent-child concepts that would work together.
Again, the innovations by our super-creative participants were impressive, from simple apps like the ‘green thumb’ to help someone garden (by Drew) to a feelings monitor (by Chloe). The excitement grew around the table as each idea was presented to the group: more traffic applications; devices that would translate languages on the go; feedback on art created by the artist (by Caitlin), etc. Attending parent Eva Chan (@EvaChanWeb) tweeted, ‘Great 'Make, Create and Innovate devices and wearables' workshop @dgdesignlabs!.’ Ms Chan was particularly impressed at how our use of the Design Thinking process engaged and inspired the kids and parents to innovate starting with ‘empathy’ to understand the users’ wants and needs.
MakerWear and Create your own Device Co-create at the Sandbox
On Sunday, we focused on sharing our MakerWear garments and added the popular Create your own Future Device workshop which we’ve previously run at the Ontario Science Centre. Here, DGDL’s human-centered design approach struck a chord with many of the adult visitors. Parents told us that they appreciated the more open and flexible nature of having
kids conceptualize their designs with materials, rather than within the parameters of a digital programme.
We’d like to thank all participants for their feedback and interest. We hope to have some kits - inspired by the above - ready for sale soon. If you are interested in any of our future workshops, buying kits or just want us to keep you up-to-date on our future news, send us your details at contact us.