Our Materials and Processing assignment was reminiscent of my Materials and Processing class in High School, although it used software I was unfamiliar with. We were tasked with creating a small name tag that had our phone number on it. We used our studies in typography and font design to pick a design for our keychain that worked well for us, and then we took small cutouts of wood and used a CNC laser engraver to carve the designs into them.
This assignment felt almost nostalgic, and we also got to take the keychains home. The chain we use to secure it to the keyring keeps falling apart and breaking, so I’ll need to go and repair that, but all in all a very fun assignment that remains one of my favorites.
– Ethan Machado, December 10th, 2025