Annalee Koehn

Designed Objects Core Studio 1 introduces students to design as an intentional practice oriented toward people beyond themselves. The studio centers on the shift from self-directed making to designing with responsibility toward users, contexts, and real-world constraints.
Work in this studio is primarily analog and hands-on. Students develop ideas through observation, sketching, physical mockups, and full-scale prototyping. The studio introduces a builder mindset, framing making and fabrication as ways of generating insight rather than simply executing ideas. Digital tools are introduced selectively to support thinking and making rather than to define the work. Students learn two-dimensional CAD workflows using vector tools to develop patterns, layouts, and templates for 3D mockups and prototypes, exploring form and proportion.
Emphasis is placed on translating insight into form and testing ideas through iteration. Prototypes are used to ask questions, reveal assumptions, and gather feedback. Critique is introduced as a collaborative process focused on clarity of intent and use.
By the end of the studio, students understand that design always addresses an ¿other,¿ and that building¿whether with cardboard, foam, or digital files¿is a primary way designers think, test, and learn.
This studio is for students beginning their product design studies, including those new to design, fabrication, or digital tools. It is best taken early in the Designed Objects curriculum alongside core skills courses such as Sketching, Digital Modeling, and Designing Interaction.