Recorded at CDFAM Computational Design Symposium, NYC, October 29-30, 2025
https://cdfam.com/nyc-2025/
Organization:
New Balance
Presenter:
Samuel Whitworth
Computational Craft: One Footwear Designer’s Quest To Replace Himself
Presentation Abstract
Footwear design, like many design domains, has long been defined by the combination of two-dimensional drawings and designers’ intuition. While these remain important elements of the field, various digital design methods are currently surging and have significantly altered the traditional footwear design process. This presentation will explore the opportunities presented by this shift through the lens of my own experience as an industrial designer turned computational designer—specifically how the application of computational methods has allowed me to expand the types of design solutions I can explore. In this sense, it’s been a journey of “replacing” my traditional industrial design role with a new hybrid role defined by what I call “computational craft.”
Computational craft can be defined as a collaborative human/computer design approach, where the computer extends the reach of the human designer, while the human grounds computational results in the real world of manufactured objects and human sensibility. I will demonstrate several examples of this method in Grasshopper, including Kangaroo-based simulations, multi-objective optimization, and mesh generation/manipulation. Audience members will be able to take away new inspiration for using computational methods in their design workflows, and a feeling of confidence that computational design is accessible to anyone regardless of academic or professional background.
Speaker Bio
Samuel Whitworth is a Computational Designer II at New Balance Athletics, where he has contributed to both inline and innovation projects for the past six years (recent releases include the SuperComp Elite v4 and More v5.) Sam focuses on the intersection of footwear geometry and function using scripting, simulation and functional prototyping, leveraging deep skillsets in both Grasshopper and Blender. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from Brigham Young University.
