Precourses¶
“Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar” (Antonio Machado)¶
I arrived at Barcelona on Friday 17 Sept 2021, after leaving Chile where I have worked and lived all my life. This first weekend was to settle out, go around the city, explore some typical places and be prepared for class. My feelings are anxiety, surprise, and happiness, preparing for new learnings and the MDEF experience.
The Best: the city multicultural vibe and food. The Challenges: Explore the city
“Todo lo que puede ser imaginado es real”¶
The pre courses where a nice “excuse” to know my future classmates, with their different backgrounds. Also, a good start for exploring IAAC´s fab lab and the Poblenou’s neighborhood. I liked the fact of being part of a multicultural and international master, where all the conversations start from empathy and trying to discover the other skills, knowledge and attitudes towards life.
During our pre courses there was a lot of new information about technology, electronics design, softwares and the use of machines which I have never been up to, which puts me in a challenge to learn these techniques.
The Led Circuit (Inputs and Outputs) With the electronics kit, we had to develop a led project which consisted in a game where you had to chose some letters and the light turned on green or red depending if you where right or wrong.
Mama is Here (Communicating Design Ideas) Design a poster for a random idea. My idea was an app that cooked your own local recipes. This app was for immigrants that wanted to remember a special home dish.
Agoraphobia (Communicating Design Ideas) Design a reel for a random object, spirit and segment. The spirit was “agoraphobia”, the segment was “researchers” and the object that we choose was this one:
The Imperfect Lamp (Fab Lab) design and fabricate a lamp using 3d printers, digital design softwares and laser cutting machines.
The Best:¶
Discovering the fab lab machines and our capacity to create almost anything.
The Lessons Learned:¶
- It is better to make a small project and finished it, than rather being too ambitious and just do a part of it. The time is limited for the design projects.
- Each classmate has his skills and knowledge which is great when working in multidisciplinary teams.
- Learning by doing will be one of my central pillars for this master.
The Challenges:¶
- Arduino, electronics and coding.
- Illustrator and Photoshop software
- Rhino and Fusion 360 digital design softwares
- Printing in a 3D printer and using laser cutting machine