Final Project: Sampling and Swatch Exchange #

Your final project is to extend what you learned throughout the course by conducting an iterative exploration into a technique or topic of your choice. We take inspiration in this assignment from the e-textiles swatch exchange, where practitioners develop small samples of a material outcome of a technique they developed and instructions for replication that are shared into a physical book with other practitioners. This is a chance for you to explore one technique, material, or history more deeply, and to present it to the class.

We expect students to complete at least four high-quality swatches as part of the final assignment. Each student, then, will pick one of those swatches, make a duplicate, and turn it in for inclusion in the course swatch book. Alongside the swatches, the student will produce a weekly-style recollection of their sampling process as well as a short presentation of their swatch to the class.

The Assignment Description:
Your swatches should emerge from a challenge that you define. Specifically, you will set yourself up with a question and a heuristic* that you’ll use to evaluate your responses to the question. The aim can change, but try to stick somewhat the the original question and heuristic. For your swatch book page, you must title your swatch and write a description of its behavior. You must include a list of the materials and tools used to create it as well as the draft or AdaCAD workflow you used to create it. Depending on the function of your swatch, you can either include a technical circuit diagram or instructions for replicating your swatch. The draft should label all the parts of the swatch, how they function, and how it can be connected to. You must also cite at minimum two sources/references.**

Maximum swatch dimensions: 5.5" x 7.75" x 0.25"
Quantity: 3 copies of the same swatch

You will keep one copy and give the other two to the instructor for grading. We will also compile them into course books that will live on in our institutional library (and possibility digital archives).

Please review the deadlines and phases of the project in the table below for details on each phase: