Industrial Arts & Method

We chose the phrase “industrial arts and method” to capture the essence of a unique design process utilized at schools supported by the Foundation. Specifically, we take inputs from both industry and the arts and apply a design methodology to elicit both far-reaching idea generation and tangible solutions. Linus Torvalds, the inventor of Linux, said,

“Almost anybody can have an idea… Getting things actually done is where people stumble.”

The IAM method takes the practitioner beyond ideas to their realization in successful products. It achieves a balance between the non-incremental innovations that improve the efficiency of what we already do and help us go further (and faster) in the directions we are already heading; and enable us together to go to new, unexpected places, where we will find disruptions and, consequently, opportunities.

Water & Ice

MIT Sloan School Professor Charles Fine uses a metaphor of the phase transition between water and ice to describe innovation. Water is fluid, representing the breadth and freedom of exploration necessary for creativity and invention; Ice is solid, representing the depth and structure necessary to transform an invention into production. Innovation occurs in a “liquid” phase; industrial consolidation of innovation is “solid.”

The IAM process uses the “water and ice” metaphor to describe a full-immersion model of learning and doing. In our model, water represents open-ended invention; ice represents joint directed research in conjunction with industry partners and clients. Situated in the phase transition between water and ice, practitioners of the IAM method bring amplification and acceleration to the industrial design process, a process referred to as “experience design”.

• Our Methodology
• Our Team
• Our Advisors