Dawson College / 7th Gen Tech Design+

To switch it up, the Skins Team taught the 7th Gen Tech Design+ workshop with students in Dawson College’s Journeys program. With the same cohort as our last workshop in December (Pixel Art and Game Design with Bitsy).

As the Skins Team continues to grow and adapt to different hosts’ needs, this cohort tested out our new iPads! The Skins Team recently acquired a set of iPad Pros that are pre-installed with apps like Procreate, a digital drawing tool, and Nomad – a 3D sculpting tool that we are excited to try out soon.

Different from our traditional character design workshops, the 7th Gen Tech Design+ workshops challenges participants to imagine a piece of technology, rather than a character, from the future. This workshop tends to be a little tougher on participants! It can be hard to imagine a new piece of technology when we are constantly surrounded by new innovations. The workshop also provides a starting point to reflect on our own relationships with technology and what things in the world are considered ‘technology’.

We always encourage participants to draw inspiration from their own communities and culture. Students came up with a whole range of ideas, from rocket powered snowshoes to high-tech snow goggles. Some participants reimagined household items and jewelry, or refurbished radios and other pieces considered to be ‘old’ in today’s standard.

We were excited to see the participants actively sharing their ideas with others and move around to see what everyone else is up to. While we gave some smaller lessons on drawing and shading techniques, some students already familiar with Procreate became impromptu instructors themselves, helping their colleagues and sharing their own knowledge.

Although we are sad that our next time at Dawson will be a different cohort, we’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with the Journeys program and meet a new influx of students!