Diseñar con luz y sentido. Luis Fernando Patiño Santa

constitutes the basic principle of innovation (Robinson and Aronica, 2009). But why is it so motivating to design a lamp?

      Well, we have to start by saying that the brief poses a difficult exercise to copy because there are very few examples in search engines like Google or Pinterest for the category “floor lamp + light source with LED tape”. Students must design the luminaire from scratch. The first time the challenge was proposed in 2016, they had to be inspired by nature, and in the second and third versions the architects of the world were their source of inspiration. Each one worked in a particular language or style that allowed them to reach different results. In addition, the light source with LED tape implies a greater challenge, because most of the existing lamps on the market use spherical or tubular bulbs.

      The budget limit and the use of materials such as pine, steel and paper also make it possible for the project to be built in a week, once the entire design is complete. These conditions force the students to use the available resources in the best way, while they advance in the exercise and decide what factors will allow the lamp to be stable, firm, useful and beautiful. The students become witnesses to what happens when following the methodology.

      But the most important thing is motivation: it makes learning and reaching a final result easier for a student who has never designed a complete product or has not had the experience of creating an object. If the student sees the progress and finishes a first product, he will naturally be motivated to continue. In addition, if he exhibits his product as part of an event and you recognize himself as a design engineer along with others, he will see the finished product of all his effort. It can be said that up to this point, the students have experienced a metacognitive process. However, the meaning of the exercise understood from a human level, could be deeper and more reflective. How can it be taken to that next level?

A Passionate Leitmotif: Choosing a Universal Inspiration

      The starting point of a design exercise in the freshman year can be as varied and diverse as nature, art, film, music, literature or architecture. In the case of the lamp exercise, the theme of light is aligned with the emotions. One can talk about inner light and how it allows us to edify ourselves as human beings: “The lamp is an inner mirror, it invites them to look at an object again, in light of what they have not been conscious of.”(Ramos, 2017).

      The Little Prince as a source of inspiration. Week 1

      In this regard, the starting point of the exercise in its fourth version is based on reflection, ethics and virtues. We decided to work with these issues as the DNA of the exercise and sought a universal work of literature that allowed us to achieve our goal. Thus, in Project 2 a strategic alliance was developed between EAFIT’s Center for Integrity to address the virtue of integrity in the classroom and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. The reason for this, is the fact that it is a timeless book, which addresses the virtues and miseries of humanity and the reader is invited to reflect upon the meaning of life. Its visual richness, metaphors, characters and meditations became the focal point in the design of the luminaire and allowed a connection between the design apprentice’s inner journey (the emotional) and the materialization of the intangible, which is the very act of designing.

      Developing the lamp exercise using The Little Prince, allows the students to connect with humanity itself, and give meaning to the profession by doing, creating and materializing.

      Why is it important for a product design engineer to reflect on friendship, ego, humility or appearances? Because these qualities as well as how they are going to launch out into the world determines their value as professionals. The Little Prince encourages the students to think about these values, and they can be made tangible in the exercise of the luminaire. The inspiration is sought thinking about the meaning of life with the purpose of reflecting it in the design of a product.

      On the concept of inspiration, the psychologist Carlos Arturo Ramírez tells us: “Inspiration is a gift of the spirit, which, in the form of an occurrence and of enthusiastic enlightenment, provides what may appear as a simple idea; but it guides us, drives us, and comforts us.” (2012, p. 362).

      If the leimoteif is to learn to design with meaning and not as a mechanical exercise, where it would be the same to design one object or another: How should the process be developed for the students to learn a profound lesson, endowed with meaning?