On June 3rd 2016, BerkleeICE and IDEO brought together 40 students for a Makeathon for the Berklee SummerLab Internship Program. On a nine-to- five work schedule, students were assigned a brief to discuss, research and prototype, ending with progress presentations to the group. Joel Stevenson, Joanna Mok and Pablo Lalama took the time to tell us about their experiences and takeaways.
Joel Stevenson, Belmont University
“I’m a graduate student of the interaction design, information architecture program at the University of Baltimore. I have had a passion for interaction design for many years since I enrolled in that program, and wanted to branch out and connect with other designers and students interested in interaction design from different academic settings. I’m also an electronic music producer and have been for over a decade. So, when I heard of a possible opportunity at Berklee and IDEO to not only meet other students from various backgrounds interested in interaction design, but to work with them to create new and innovative prototypes that relate to music and technology, I knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up! Not only was I able to meet fantastic music, business, and design students from various backgrounds, I was able to effectively collaborate with them to solve a problem that exists in the music industry today. The opportunity to gather different perspectives, ideas, and experiences was rewarding enough on its own, but the ability to work as a team and combine all of our strengths from our respective fields to create an ideal product, that exceeded my expectations.” – Joel Stevenson, Design Graduate Student, Belmont University
Joanna Mok, Berklee College of Music
“The topic of the day was to figure out a way to have artists or creators be compensated by any re-sale of their works. Our team came up with several interesting ideas, then decided to define compensation as more than just monetary: to artists, it could be social media mention; to fans, it could be opportunities to meet with their stars, etc., stakeholders to stakeholders. This idea probably would not have come up without IDEO’s brainstorming method. Since we were first asked to create different personas and develop stories out of each persona representing different stakeholders, it helped generating ideas that integrated various aspects/views of the issue instead of just focusing on a single party, which would lead to a biased solution eventually.” – Joanna Mok, Music Business/Management, Berklee College of Music, Class of 2016
Pablo Lalamar, Berklee College of Music
“We were given short periods of time to structure the challenge from what it means to what should we do and how are we doing it. We were sitting with complete strangers and we were given only thinking tools. We developed our many ideas into fewer, more solid ones. We had to communicate clearly what we meant and further recognize the many patterns happening. We had to give meaning to why we were all thinking similar pathways to solve the challenge, embrace the results and make a prototype of it. Finally, we presented it in front of a room full of more strangers and, somehow, it all felt familiar.
This method, I realized, was designed to do exactly that: to perpetuate not the idea itself, but the bonding experience of the minds creating. It was designed to let go of the individual, the ego, and to ease into the simplicity of belonging through collaboration. WE did it.
At the end of the Makeathon, I was exhausted. The best kind of exhausted. I felt proud of my team and myself. I could see how deep our thoughts dived to retrieve maybe a clue to solve the riddle, maybe a reason why not, maybe a word of courage or maybe a sigh. We got involved in the process so wholeheartedly that even the price was forgotten. And I asked myself if we could use more Design Thinkers in the world, how much more we could be doing with our little time on Earth. I believe BerkleeICE and IDEO are making this dream come true by teaching us how to design our own future.” – Pablo Lalamar, Music Business Entrepreneur, Berklee College of Music
BerkleeICE is so happy to launch the internship program in July with 18 of the 40 students participating, ranging from fields of music, entrepreneurship and technology, after such a successful Makeathon day.
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Greg Walsh
Joel Stevenson attends the University of Baltimore, not Belmont University.