Blue Sky Designer’s Journal

“How Might We?” is a technique of asking questions that many engineers and project designers use to find exercise their brains.  In the end, we end up with loads more questions that could help guide our plans.

Next, I planned out what I would do in each stage of the Launch Cycle.

This step is about researching and finding out just what needs to be done to solve this problem.

I looked online to see what other successful book lights had, as well as wrote down some questions I wanted to ask as I was making my product

I had many initial ideas, but the task for my grade was to find a client who had a problem and solve it for them. I decided to go with the new book light idea because I remembered that some of my friends had problems with reading at night. Making a book light that didn’t require moving each page turn and shined on a larger part of the page was important because maybe it would allow more people to read.

I asked my friend Tia these questions because she was my client. She mentioned things about her priorities and what she wanted in a book light.

Now was the stage where everyone in the class was getting critique from our peers and starting to fix the issues that had surfaced. Some of the questions my friends had about mine were its ability to work and the originality. I was able to work that into my project and presentation through finding a battery powered light and emphasizing the fact that my book light was different because it didn’t need a clip or to be moved often.

With only about 5 days until the exhibition, I received my new materials and began working with them. I put together the magnets, covered them in cardboard and taped them up with an attachment to the light at the top. The 90 degree angle allowed the product to just slide into the side of the book.

By this time, I’d tested out making a book light with the materials I had. Soon, I realized that the magnets that were supposed to clip onto both sides of a book cover weren’t strong enough and the light I had was to big. 

I then went onto the supreme marketplace for everything: Amazon. Luckily, they had good lights that were on their way. Also, I found some stronger magnets that would work as well.

Now it was the day of the exhibition, and I was nervous. Nervous to present my idea and talk about it to people I didn’t know. I just focused on getting the decorations done, and then it was to for it to start! Once I got going, the talking became easier, and I had a good way to wrap up my pitch. I didn’t have a name, so I decided that the people there could vote for what they liked. The audience was really receptive to my idea, and was kind of surprised. I received many “I want that”s. By the end I was happy about the product and pleased that it was working after going through all those steps.

This step is about awareness. I needed to learn about Blue Sky, and begin to think about what I wanted to create as a solution to a peer’s problem.

This was the basic project outline for everyone’s Blue Sky project. I knew I had to include storytelling, worldview still images, and a presentation in my product and how I would show it.

This project follows the Launch Cycle, a method of project working that follows seven steps. It allows for various improvements along the road of a variety of tasks.

This step was about bringing all my ideas together, and started to work on prototypes.

I wanted to make a magnetic strip that went along the entire back of the book, with lights at the top. This version only had the magnet because I still had to find the perfect light.

Before the actual exhibition, some planning needed to be done. Everyone was assigned a group based on their projects. These groups revolves around one United Nations goal, and my group’s was sustainable industry, infrastructure, and innovation. We planned in these groups how our areas were going to look, what we would need to bring, and how that was going to happen. My group went for an industrial look (appropriately) with gears, a skyline, and a road pattern on the floor. This was also when I was finishing up my poster and planning out the points I wanted to make in my pitch.

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