The Design Thinking Lab is a new space on campus for students, faculty, and staff to create and collaborate. Over the summer, it was transformed into a space that the SNHU community can utilize.
The lab’s intended goal is to provide an “open space of possibility” on campus that anyone can use. Brandon Crose, Assistant Game Design Professor, is the lab manager. He emphasizes the importance of welcoming everyone on campus into the space.
“Faculty can book the space and hold special labs or brainstorming sessions for their classes. When it’s not booked, students are invited to meet with friends, project partners, or just unplug and unwind between classes,” said Crose.
Students can access various resources, such as whiteboard tables, which are ideal for brainstorming. All of the supplies have different objectives aimed at helping anyone who wants to use them to push their ideas forward.
“[We provide] everything an aspiring designer might need to create a physical prototype of a game idea, such as game tokens, meeples, and polyhedral dice,” said Crose.
The lab is staffed with students who help visitors find supplies, answer questions, and provide overall assistance. They make sure everything is organized and cleaned.
PJ Garron (’24) has learned a lot during his time as a Design Thinking Lab assistant. He hopes the skills he’s learned will help him in a career in design.
“A lot of it is collaborating with other groups like Media & Design, talking with professors and students, and seeing what they want,” said Garron. “There’s a lot of organizing and managing space in general.”
He has used the space himself for projects for his classes.
“One of the projects I am doing right now is making these designed outlines of past clients that we successfully worked with and basically outline everything, from what we did for them, to when we did it, and they loved it,” said Garron. “It’s a [written] piece to show off if anyone wants to come in and see examples.”
Garron hopes that students feel comfortable enough to ask the lab assistants for help if they need anything.
“We’d love to help out anyone who needs it any way we can,” said Garron.
The Design Thinking Lab is located in room 034 of the SETA Annex. It’s open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“As this is a brand-new space, we would love any ideas you have about possible events, features, or supplies that would benefit the community who uses or is interested in using the Design Thinking Lab. The next time you’re at the Annex, stop by and say hello!” said Crose.
