Play as Process is the culmination of my architecture education at Washington University in St. Louis. What happens when we reintroduce play into the design process and design education? In theory, we create an environment that is more open and inclusive for all to participate in design thinking. My goal in undertaking this research was to try and find a way to encourage all people to think like designers rather than dismiss it and fall victim to their perceived inability to design.
The first stage of my project, after research, resulted in me creating a series of print-at-home zines that guide the reader through a short design project through 2D design, 3D design, and writing. The zines are meant to reach people of nearly any age and ability level and the projects were based off of previous prompts throughout my studios at WUSTL.
Following the zines, I created a program written in Python to be used with Drawbot that gives the user a randomized design activity every time the code is ran. The list of items is a simple .csv so in theory, anyone could grab the code and swap out the .csv or add to it to create a unique list of prompts. This resource was created with educators and collaborators in mind as a way of helping their students and teams brainstorm, ideate, and just get creative juices flowing.
My work culminated in a research booklet documenting my process. This book contained research analysis, personal reflection, project details, and ended with a manifesto to call everyone to action. You can view it in full here.
