Design Bodystorming
Lesson (30 mins):
BEFORE CLASS STARTS: Print Slides 5, 6, and 9 of the slide deck below and cut out each word
Equipment:
Print and cut out slides (5,6, and 9) and fold them into 3 separate containers
Skills
Design thinking
Keywords
iteration
design thinking
prototyping
refinement
In Game Application
Designing and crafting with the body
Learning about design basics, brainstorming with the body (bodystorming) and iterating and developing ideas collaboratively. This is a foundational class for designing wearables, to practice developing costumes to wear and quickly prototyping them with the craft materials.
PART 1 (total 15 mins)
Individual Practice in Soma Design (5 min)
Put the cut pieces of paper from SLIDE 9 (Body Parts) in a bowl/hat so each Trainee can draw 1 randomly.
Tell the group to experience the body part while walking in the room. Write on a board while you read to the group questions they should ask themselves:
How does it feel when you move?
Does it feel light? Does it feel heavy?
Then ask them to stop walking and move that body part differently. Ask a Trainee and have them write the following questions on the board:
What can it do?
How does that feel?
Exploring Material Qualities (10 min)
Put the cut pieces of paper from SLIDE 6 (Aesthetic) in a bowl/hat so each Trainee can draw 2 randomly.
Challenge students to make a piece of wearable costume for the body part you got and use the two material qualities to choose from the craft materials to make your design.
Tell them this is a short exercise and let them know how much time they have to make it.. (quick and dirty rather than a refined design)
PART 2 (total 15 mins)
Show and Tell (2min)
Facilitator divides Trainees into groups of 2 (and if odd one group could have 3 people). Then they ask campers to be in their new groups and let each other know what they made by stating what body part they got and what material qualities they got.
Facilitator writes on the board : “I got this <body part> and <these material qualities>.”
Co-creation & iterative process (8 min)
Challenge the students to “Make a design that conveys a vibe together” you can make it through the way it looks, how it feels, how you move with it, or how you interact with each other when you wear it.
Put the cut pieces of paper from SLIDE 5 (Vibes) in a bowl/hat so each Trainee can draw 2 randomly.
Facilitator tells the group not to share with other groups what vibes they got.
Facilitator instructs the group that :
They can make the wearable design reflect the vibe they got
They can combine or start from scratch together.
Present the options of:
creating a single costume
separating pieces that work together
choosing some parts from what you made earlier and combining them together
or leave them separate but make them work together somehow
They can also add new things to the design:
Working with the craft materials
Working with their bodies see what they can do
Facilitator spreads Vibe Boards on a table for inspiration and says:
They can check the boards for inspiration, but don’t pick up the ones that relate to your vibe, to not expose to other groups what vibe you’re working with.
Tell them that designers create mood boards. Sometimes they work on them for a while before designing a piece for inspiration.
Show and Tell (5 mins)
Make sure all groups have a chance to present and talk about their work. Manage the time based on the number of groups
One group presents at a time while the rest of the group tries to guess the VIBE word that inspired the shared project.
With every turn, after a few guesses have been made, the Facilitator asks the group presenting:
Tell us how you chose to work together, and how you hoped to convey the vibe you got. Do you feel it radiates the vibe you got picked?