🔬Experiment + Record

Material researcher and designer Zoe Powell takes us through the importance of recording your material experimentation in Distributed Design

🎯 Invitation

The tools of Distributed Design are ambivalent to the materials put in them.

Proprietary or industrial standard sheets, filaments and blocks can be replaced by materials that we can find and make locally.

When creating or using new materials we need to be able to repeat our results. The purpose of this toolkit is to introduce the designer to basic scientific recording techniques.

These tools are not only useful in material testing but in all experimentation within design.

Take inspiration from the work of Zoe Powell to develop experimental practice.

🍳Who is Zoë Powell Best?🔬

Zoē Powell Best is a Materials Researcher, multi-disciplinary Designer-Maker and Workshop Facilitator.

Since 2008, she has worked on research and community-driven projects internationally for a variety of industries including packaging, interiors, textiles and art. The focus of her work is centred around creatively using resources, circular design strategies and production techniques both digital and hand crafted.

Currently, Zoe is Project Lead on ‘Future Matters’, a cross-continental biomaterial collaboration between Johannesburg based Big Circle Studios and for open source platform Materiom, who are working to prototype new models for a community-led circular economy.

She is an Advisory Board member for the British Council Creative Hubs, an ambassador for Material Science working group DiscoverMaterials and 4th member of Uruguayan research collective Simbióticas Lab.

Zoe Powell - Designer MakerZoe Powell - Designer Maker

Read this section top to bottom first
Do the Lab book activity
Explore the resources and downloadable files

👀 Overview

A lab book is a notebook that is used to record research that you have done i.e. primary research (as opposed to research that others have done, secondary research)

The set-up refers to your lab space… or the space you are using to conduct your experiments or work in. It could be your studio space, co-working office or even your kitchen.

A tool is a utensil, implement or device that is generally used by hand in order to carry out a particular function. You can get electronic tools, carpenters’ hardware, scientific apparatus and even kitchen utensils are classed as tools. You might get specialised tools like sewing machines which can also be known as equipment.

An experiment is an official or established way of discovering or testing or demonstrating something, with the aim to show if a hypothesis about it is true or false… or needs further research and experimentation.

✏ Activity: Create a Lab book

📚 Downloads

Lab books - basic and detailed templates for DD Toolkit

Lab book templates x 5

Here are 5 variations of lab book templates. These were inspired by real examples of lab book pages and digital templates. (Special thank you to Matthew Edwards, Mathew Gale and Tshepo Mangoele for sharing their lab book pages)