Design Thinking in the MIX

DSGN 101: Intro to Design Thinking in the MIX

MIX Makerspace and Events Manager, Dr. Max Kazemzadeh, taught his Spring 2025 DSGN 101 Introduction to Design Thinking course in the MIX for the first time. Twenty GMU students applied design thinking principles individually and in groups, using a range of texts including Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things.
Students were trained on a range of MIX equipment items, for which they received a micro-credential stored on their Mason ID to be able to access and use these equipment stations and tools to develop interactive products and solutions based on their research.
Since the final day of class, many of the students have returned to gain further training through additional MIX workshop offerings and continue to use the MIX to realize additional project goals. See some of the group in-progress project prototypes below.

Adonis and Jackson working on their device carrier. They CNC’ed an inlay into MDF as they wanted something different, however, they are exploring different materials as well as a CNC’s foam interior with a hard shell with wood paneling as an alternative.