Process Products: Capturing Design Iteration with Digital Fabrication

This paper introduces the concept of Process Products, or digitally fabricated objects embedded with visual representations of design process. The goal of this work is to use automation to capture the iterative process of designing and manufacturing objects using digital fabrication and encapsulate this information directly on the produced objects themselves. Documenting iteration can help designers communicate the evolution of their design, reveal strategies that designers use to create products, and help manufacturers of digital fabrication technologies understand how their tools are used. We propose three potential forms of Process Products: Process Heatmaps, Process Stacks, and Process Textures, as a way to spark discussion on capturing and representing iteration in the design of physical objects.