# Materialising
*Authors: Priscilla Van Even, Bieke Zaman, Karin Hannes*

Summary
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**Art-form**^1^: visual art


Example of materialising, (c) KU Leuven RETINA project

**Requirements**
* Time: 90 minutes
* Difficulty^2^: 2 stars
* What you'll need: template design diary, pens and crafting materials such as markers, paint, cardboard, coloured paper etc.
* Participants: age +8

Description
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**Steps**
1. The participants comprehend what problem they want to solve with the design.
2. They make a basic drawing of the installation or prototype they want to create to express their idea. This is an optional step. It is also possible to design without a preconceptual plan and think ‘with’ the materials.
3. They inquire the materials that are available to create a fictive prototype or installation and use the materials to give shape to their idea/solution.
4. The participants write their reflections and ideas down in a design diary.

**Which stage to use it in**
* Ideation
* Design

**Why it is useful**
This method is useful to build prototypes or installations, visualize ideas and experiment freely with materials. Materialising can also be used to stimulate a discussion around what has been done and to engage different participants.

**How to document**
The process and results will be captured through photos and videos. Participants write down their experiences and reflections throughout the design process in a design diary.

**Analysis**
The different materialised design outcomes and the audiovisual materials captured during the creative process can be analysed to distil different themes.

*Footnotes*

^1^ Categories are based on Sara Coemans and Karin Hannes. 2017. Researchers under the spell of the arts: Two decades of using arts-based methods in community-based inquiry with vulnerable populations. Educational Research Review 22 (2017), 34–49.
^2^ 1-5 stars, I star being easy to facilitate and do not require deep artistic skills and 5 stars requiring deep level artistic skills.

###### tags: `art-based methods guide` `book` `method`