In the annual Industrial Design Charrette, students from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years are grouped together and given a prompt that challenges them to apply their design skills to a different discipline. For the fifth iteration this year, under the co-direction of Asst. Prof. William Nickley and Assoc. Prof. Amanda Huynh, the prompt centered on Foley — creating objects that replicate sounds from an assigned video clip. The kick-off event featured invited guests Eddie Gandelman, Senior Product Designer and Sound Designer at Priority Designs, and Jean-Yves Münch, Senior Lecturer/Creative Researcher and audio engineer at Ohio State. After the kick-off, students had just a few days to develop their designs using the SADR facilities. 

Below are the four movie clips for which student teams had to build Foley objects:

Projects were awarded across four categories: Most Accurate Sound Representation, Most Charismatic Object, Most Deceptive Object, and Juror's Selection. The Charrette concluded on-site at Priority Designs, where seven guest jurors joined the students to evaluate their objects on display and hear their live performances synchronized with the clips. The students applied their rapid prototyping and testing skills to create convincing sounds, such as the interior of a passenger train or an acorn being plunged into snow. Drawing inspiration from Foley objects used in early Disney animations, the students added an extra layer of creativity to make the objects visually compelling and interactive. The resulting designs highlighted the students' ability to collaborate, think creatively, and respond to unexpected challenges. 

Photo credits: William Nickley