Abstract
In contemporary graphic design education, there is a significant need for hands-on exploration that bridges traditional design tools with emerging technologies. This exploration affords students with opportunities to engage in tinkering—a process of iterative, playful experimentation that fosters innovation and adaptability. As Cezzar (2020) explains, by critically reflecting on material opportunities and limitations through questioning tools, materials, and processes, students gain more knowledge and clarity when creating physical and digital tools. We sought to address this opportunity by developing a technology-focused tinkering workshop at University A (name of University masked for blind review). This workshop invited students to examine the connection between visual design and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. It also provided a space where students explored tools like TinkerCAD, Arduino, and ChatGPT to shift their approach from creating visual representations of products to engaging directly with building and iterating on functional prototypes. This workshop allowed students to go beyond using basic design strategies and move toward multimodal ways of problem-seeking and solving. Using a studio-based methodology where students actively engage in problem-solving and critical thinking, students experimented with physical and digital components, exploring traditional design practices and user experience-driven, design processes. Findings revealed a spectrum of engagement: while some students embraced the opportunity to tinker, others struggled to move beyond their preconceived, traditional notions of graphic design. These findings highlighted a gap in connecting traditional design practices to emerging technology and systems thinking. This case study concludes that integrating more opportunities for tinkering can prepare graphic design students to navigate a future where design increasingly intersects with emerging technology.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.092
Citation
Nedic, D.,and Paine, R.(2025) From Portfolio to Prototype: Tinkering Workshops in Design Education, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.092
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Case Study
From Portfolio to Prototype: Tinkering Workshops in Design Education
In contemporary graphic design education, there is a significant need for hands-on exploration that bridges traditional design tools with emerging technologies. This exploration affords students with opportunities to engage in tinkering—a process of iterative, playful experimentation that fosters innovation and adaptability. As Cezzar (2020) explains, by critically reflecting on material opportunities and limitations through questioning tools, materials, and processes, students gain more knowledge and clarity when creating physical and digital tools. We sought to address this opportunity by developing a technology-focused tinkering workshop at University A (name of University masked for blind review). This workshop invited students to examine the connection between visual design and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. It also provided a space where students explored tools like TinkerCAD, Arduino, and ChatGPT to shift their approach from creating visual representations of products to engaging directly with building and iterating on functional prototypes. This workshop allowed students to go beyond using basic design strategies and move toward multimodal ways of problem-seeking and solving. Using a studio-based methodology where students actively engage in problem-solving and critical thinking, students experimented with physical and digital components, exploring traditional design practices and user experience-driven, design processes. Findings revealed a spectrum of engagement: while some students embraced the opportunity to tinker, others struggled to move beyond their preconceived, traditional notions of graphic design. These findings highlighted a gap in connecting traditional design practices to emerging technology and systems thinking. This case study concludes that integrating more opportunities for tinkering can prepare graphic design students to navigate a future where design increasingly intersects with emerging technology.