3 Modes of making

Febuary 12th, 2024
Bellevue, WA

Image from Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Notes from Three modes of making in Make: written by Matt Zigler

I read an article written by Matt Zigler in Make magazine on the topic of the 'Three modes of making'. This is a good way to describe how solving problems and building things/design artifacts can be categorized.

Imitation

Working from a set of steps to build foundational skills, basic knowledge, and hands-on experiences.

― Matt Zigler

This is the one of the easiest steps to get started with. Imitation is something that humans have been doing forever. Looking at designs, ideas, and solutions that can be found in nature or by others. By imitation we can learn both about the ideas and the concepts behind the ideas. A lot of apprentices will begin by following and imitating their instructors.

Modification

Remixing existing ideas and objects with tools, materials, and techniques with which you have become familiar.

― Matt Zigler

This is the logical next step after imitation. Once you have learned the basics behind the ideas, concepts, and tools. You can beging to modify existing solutions and ideas. Modification provides grounding to build more complex ideas. You start with a baseline that was created by someone else and make the changes to adapt to new situations. A really cool way to 'remix' is to take 2 different ideas and see if you can merge them together into a hybrid.

Innovation

Combining previous experiences and skills to create something 'new' and bring those ideas into the world.

― Matt Zigler

This is the first step to developing something we can consider novel. Matt notes in the article and book that technically there is nothing 'new', but we are able to create something more uniquely to suit the situation. Here part of the work required is to do more of the foundational and concept work yourself. Starting from 'scratch' allows you to more deeply control and fine-tune the constraints and requirements.

This isn't a linear step process. You can always go back to use imitation and modification where needed, or even start with Innovation type making. Feel free to try approaching problems from all of these angles.

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