24|APUNTES The present of the future For the last few years, the students of the ELISAVA (UPF) Industrial Design School, in Barcelona, have been challenged to design a luminary within the framework of the subject “Aesthetics and Design II”. It is an exercise from the first course, so it is done a few months into the study for the Degree. The luminary has always been one of the most priced objects in the design world due to its character: aesthetic, functional, decorative and differential. It is only fitting that it should be used to bring the future product designers to the experience of following, from beginning to end, the creation of an object: the preliminary study of the user, market, luminary, regulations, and lastly to the moment of construction. Initially, the exercise was posed as an investigative work in groups of five students that had to pick a type of luminary: wall units, ceiling, floor, night stand, etc. For each type assigned they had to do a study of market and gather and summarize the information according to comparative criteria (light sources and their usage, prices and materials, subfamilies, main companies). The next step was to take apart a specific luminary and analyze its parts, detecting invariables and variables, describing the form in relation to the function, the links between components and defining the design requirements, materials and usage processes of each component. Finally, they were asked to analyze the environment and usage context of a luminary, for example the domestic spaces, where you can usually find and do a Storyboard with the usage sequence of the space. Once this first part is accomplished, each student has to face the design and construction of his/her own luminary. It cannot cost more than 25 Euros in materials and manufacturing, and it should be possible to construct it industrially. Artisan designs should be avoided; they would hinder the objectives and philosophy of the career. One of the most important and complex challenges is focusing on the user of the product and imagining his/her day to day from every angle, because our first impulse is to design following our own tastes, and that is definitely not our goal. A good presentation of the product is essential, one that can transmit the idea in an attractive way. This is an exercise that motivates and stimulates the students because in most fields of university training, experimentation and practice in what will be the professional future of the students, does not come until later in the course. The beginning courses are usually more theoretical. Completing a task with these characteristics has helped them understand why there are things they need to know beforehand and then experience firsthand the material results of this information. Ultimately, they are in this career to “turn ideas into tangible things”. ■