Thinking Through Design

Spaces for making

The carpenter. The artist. The tinkerer and inventor. They all have them — workshops. They are rooms filled with sawdust and tools, workbenches, canvases, paints, soldering irons, works in progress and inspiration aplenty. They are spaces for making things — where we go when we need to focus and be inspired.

The Web as a workshop

How can we think about the web like a workshop? How can we create a space for the user that is uniquely their own, filled with their projects and passions, their histories and plans for the future.

We can start by revisiting how we think about profiles and dashboards.

The information found on these types of pages brings to mind administrative processes — and while this type of information is important, its not exactly the type of thing that gets people excited about making things.

What would happen if we were to think of these spaces as workshops, and let users fill them with the things that bring forth their passions and creativity?

What if we centred the experience around these spaces, as a door that was always open into a world of unbounded creativity and making?

• Makes = projects I have made
• Saves = projects I am going to make
• Badges = reminders of where I’ve been and what I’ve accomplished

Hack your space

What if we let users hack these spaces, and make them reflect their own personality, letting their space be an expression of who they are, that they can share with their friends online?

Notes and Feedback

Comments and feedback can be posted here: https://etherpad.mozilla.org/thinkingthroughdesign

Note: Background image is used for placeholder purposes only. ‘Mountain’ image and was grabbed from Mark Weaver’s Dribbble page. Original can be found here: http://dribbble.com/shots/122414-Dribbble-053. Other images were grabbed from Apple’s desktop backgrounds.