Have you ever wondered how sticky notes were created? You probably haven’t, for they are such a common and simple invention that they hardly demand any attention, but every invention starts somewhere. In this case, it began with a man named Dr. Silver who had a friend that became frustrated when bookmarks fell out of his books, so he used an adhesive he developed and put it on the back of a small piece of paper. This intentioned worked like a charm and was soon being sold nation wide by the company 3M. This story was what introduced us last year to our exciting end of the year project; Blue Sky.

The Blue Sky Program is a term that originates from Apple, which is a designated amount of time that a person has to work on a special project of their choice outside of their normal work. This will typically be a way to solve or improve upon a problem, and lent itself quite well to be a final exhibition of our yearly learning. During our Blue Sky time, we will venture out into the world to find a problem, big or small, and then look for possible solutions. When we find one that works, we create it and make improvements as we go. Then we finish our work by presenting it to the world at an Exhibition, demonstrating our new creation. Throughout this project, we refer back to a guide known as the Launch Cycle, which is a step by step process outlining what happens on the road to creation of a product. This includes listening and learning, asking lots of questions, understanding the process or problem, navigating ideas, creating a prototype, highlighting and fixing, and finally launching to an audience. Below, I will be talking about my journey through the launch cycle, and what I learned along the way.

Look, Listen, and Learn:

 

Many people are under the impression that genius ideas just happen, that you will be doing something random and an idea will just pop into your head. This is definitely true to some degree, but in order to develop ideas that are more productive and thought out, you need some background knowledge on your topic. This in our case comes in the phase of Look, Listen, and Learn. This is the phase where we explore our community, talk to our peers, and look for problems that we may be able to solve. For me, I had been aware of this since the beginning of the year and was on the constant look out for potential projects. I went through many ideas, such as a universal clamp that can solve the problem of hard to put together structures, or a earbuds that are also earrings so they are ready to go whenever you want to listen to music. Yet, the idea I decided on was special, for it was something that affected me.

A couple weeks ago, I was sketching in between games at my Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I found that I kept having trouble locating my supplies, along with dealing with the intense sun and no where to put my book. At the moment I didn’t think of it, but later it came to mind that it would have been useful to have some sort of mini portable art studio that I could use wherever I went. Then it hit me; I could create just that, and make it better than other inventions because I would actually understand what would need to be in it. I would make it light, efficient, customizable, and outdoor ready to handle any conditions. I loved this idea and pitched it to my mom, who creating art herself thought it was great. During this phase, I learned that taking in as much information as you can is important, for you never know when you might need it. Once I thought about it a little more, I talked to my teachers about it and began to simultaneously move on to the next phase;

Our first Blue Sky class of 2018

 

 

Asking LOTS of Questions:

 

Our of all the stages of the launch cycle, this has to be my specialty. Before we can move on to finalizing our ideas, we need to understand them first. We also need to know what our objectives are, where we should start, and how we can move forwards. Now of course, the best way to figure these things out is asking questions, lots and lots of questions. I started this step as soon as our project themes were announced to help me come up with ideas. I asked questions about what audiences we were appealing to and what our rough timeline would be, which helped me formulate a plan. I also asked myself questions such as what I should be prioritizing and what could I do to keep on top of the project. After this I talked to my teachers, and asked what were some of the things I need to remember when creating my solution. I also decided to think into the future and plan what a rough idea for my exhibition presentation could look like. During this process, I learned the importance of clarification and how many of my questions didn’t just help me improve my ideas, but prevent future mistakes as well.

Understanding the Process or Problem:

 

The next step in the Launch Cycle is crucial for moving forwards, and is to understand your process and problem. This can be done through a variety of ways; research, exploration, but one of the best ways is to conduct interviews. One of the main focuses for PLP 9 students is to be able to find, conduct, and gain information from interviews, and our best chance to do this is through Blue Sky. To start, we looked at our topics of interest and decided what categories they fall into. For me, my problem revolves around art and outdoor gear, so I decided to find interview sources that were interested in these areas. To start, I talked to my mom who likes to draw and paint. She was able to give me some initial insight into how I could get my invention to appeal to artists. Next I talked to our school councillor Margie Arnold who was the art teacher at Seycove for 9 years. At this point I had the idea for the art desk, and wanted to get specifics. She gave me some useful feedback on what supplies my art desk should be able to hold and what kinds of art it should be used for. After this, I conducted a survey in my school and on a social media art group to see if the general public liked my idea. When I got a consensus of “yes”, I was ready to move on.

A Survey I Conducted on Amino Art Group

 

Navigating Ideas:

When you have been ruminating on a plan for over a week, your bound to have a heap of ideas. Unfortunately, they don’t always connect to well with each other, which is why Navigating Ideas is so important. One of the areas I aim to improve in is being able to simplify my plans, which made this area a key step in completing my project. I started off by listing out my ideas and scrapping the ones that were not useful or would take too much time. I then moved to considering what would be the main functions of my solution, so not to get caught up in meaningless details. Once I had this sorted out, I drew up my first prototype plan, which outlined every feature I planned to have in it. It was now time to begin Blue Sky’s main event:

Prototype A Plan

Creating a Prototype:

For this step, we were given the opportunity to create a physical or digital prototype based on what we felt would work best. This prototype would be the combination of all the ideas were formulated in the past phases, and a demonstration of where we planned to go from here. For me, I felt a physical prototype would be best for it would help me rap my head around what would be actually possible. I wanted to start off simple, so I used materials from my house and the dollar store. I was amazed on what I was able to create with cardboard, string, tape, and glue. Once my prototype was complete it was time to:

Prototype 1

Highlight and Fix:

Throughout the process of Blue Sky, students will create a total of 3 prototypes, each improving from the last. Although you can figure out how to do this on your own, it’s much better to talk to people to get external feedback. I started by bringing my prototype to school, and getting some critique from my friends. I then talked to my Mom and met with Katie in person, and even went to M.E.C for some ideas on how to make it more durable. Through this process, I also learned the crucial skill of interviewing. You must be able to know what questions to ask to get the best information out of people, and how to make them comfortable. I will continue to use this skill for the rest of my life.

My Interview Sources

Once I had feedback, it was time to move onto prototype 3. This prototype was to be created from better materials, and have more features than the last. I successfully did this by planning out in detail what the prototype would look like, and using materials from a thrift store as well. For this prototype, I talked to the same sources as the first one, but also talked to the current art teacher at Seycove, Mr Clancy. This was one of the most informative interviews I got for he reminded me that I had to make my prototype unique to what was already out there. With this, I trekked on to prototype three.

Prototype 2

This prototype was the hardest to make out of the three for it not only had to have all of the features of the past renditions, but each part had to be fully functional. This proved to be an issue when creating the legs and umbrella for the bag wasn’t strong enough to be held up on its own. I found a way to fix this however by adding telescoping poles in the bag’s inner fabric which could prevent it from collapsing. I also had difficulties finding proper materials that were cheap. Although I could have made my prototype more professional through buying my parts, I decided it would be more practical to create them myself. This lead to me to have to think outside the box in what materials I could use, such as a headlamp for a light and a music stand as an umbrella holder. This prototype also differed from the others for I decided to make an actual plan in what I needed to buy and the measurements for my desk. This helped me significantly and allowed less revision later on.

Prototype 3

Launch to an Audience

It took many long days and nights to complete, but finally, I was ready for the Exhibition. Along side of my prototypes, I also had a poster board as a background. This included basic info on my topic, descriptions on my prototypes, and a video outlining the launch cycle built into my board. After my personal set up was complete, it was time to help my group with theirs. For the exhibition, the grade 8s, 9s and 10s were sorted into groups together based on their topics. Each group was focus around a UN national goal, such as improving education systems and creating sustainable energy. I was put in a group led by grade 10s Hannah, Sofia, Isabelle, and Claire focused around responsible consumption. For this theme, we created our sign from recycled material, used natural lighting, had environmental posters on the computers, and provided eco friendly snacks. As of my presentation, I originally aimed to talk about my product, my prototypes, and the process to create them in great detail but remembered my goal of simplification. In hindsight, I am glad I did simplify for it allowed me to keep my audience engaged.

Pictures from the Exhibition

 

Reflection

For the past month, the main focus of my days has been Blue Sky. I have spent most of my school and home time perfecting my prototypes and presentation, and I feel it shows. I am proud of my final product and feel it demonstrated all of the skills I learned this year, including story finding, story telling, interviewing, revising, and more. However, I became quite stressed through this work and realized that this may have not been necessary. Although my product was great, the anxiety I put myself through did not add to my final grade, and I don’t feel it was appreciated by the audience at the exhibition. This lead my to the important realization that working smarter instead of worked harder is important. If I were to have focused the effort I put into everything in this project in other areas, I could have reduced my stress and created better overall products. I will keep this in mind for next year, and am ready to take on grade 10.