During high school, I did 3D modelling (and printing), CNC plasma cutting, shirt / sticker design, and other engineering-type activities. All of these projects have some element of design in them. I hope you enjoy!

3D Printing

When taking a 3D modelling class (SolidEdge, AutoCAD), I wanted to try to print something a little more complex than the average kid was doing (Back then, everyone was printing Angry Birds, Pac-Man, etc).

I got my hands on a haptic feedback device (a pen that let you feel what you were sculpting), and used a clay modelling program (Similar to Geomagic) to create a 3D version of Bowser, a video game character from Mario. Below are the 3D printed copies. I think it turned out pretty well!

My next sculpture was an angel. I realized while designing him that it was unlikely that I would be able to get him to stand on his feet without falling over and breaking (the powder-print is quite fragile), so I added a rock for him to sit on.

Unfortunately, he ended up falling off a table and is today in pieces in a bag, waiting for me to super-glue him back together!

Metal Shop (CNC Plasma Cutter)

My favourite place in high school was the metal shop. I enjoyed designing and making things like candle holders, book ends, and various hand tools. Once I found out how to use the CNC plasma cutter, I loved the shop even more.

The plasma cutter used a program called PlasmaCAM. One could import bitmap images and turn them into cutouts. The problem with bitmaps is they are not vector-based, so they import quite poorly. The C5 Corvette logo shown below took a lot of work, manually removing all the jagged edges and the gaps in lines. I learned the keyboard shortcuts quickly, and eventually everyone in the lab was asking for my help with their own projects.

Above the C5 logo is the Jake, Corvette’s racing mascot. Both of these super-sized pieces were gifts for my dad.

Shirt Design

In my last year, I tried out sticker / t-shirt design. The first one is a Java programming joke (watch out for exception-al females!).
The second is an artistic representation of lyrics from the song “How He Loves“. However, I’ve had many people ask me why I had a scoop of ice cream on my shirt, so that was a lesson in design. I thought it looked good!
The last is a verse that I tried to represent graphically. You are the judge on how well it turned out visually.