As grade 9 maker ends, we finished the year with a project based around a problem in the world. We each had to find a problem that was important and interesting using the launch cycle and design 3 different prototypes to solve the problem. 

To guide our inquiry we used the lunch cycle to help us organize our ideas to benefit our creative process.

 

Look, Listen and Learn: Everyone was put into different departments such as house improvements, sports, mental health, e.t.c. I was put into innovation, industry and infrastructure, once everyone has their umbrella topic we had to find our topic; but this topic could be just any topic it had to be something that we were interested in ourselves and something that could actually be solved in real life, so I got to thinking. 

I couple years ago I had been educated on the horrors behind cosmetic testing on animals, something that is ignored and hidden from the public and I thought that this was a perfect time to educate people on the topic; but how do I present my idea?

When I first pitched my idea to Ms Willemse my idea was that animal testing brands would have to package their products with a certain code and people would have an app on their phones to scan the code. This scan would show the customer where the products are manufactured and what their factory/lab conditions were like. 

But this product idea wasn’t very strong, but thankfully after speaking to Ms Willemse about my idea, the lightbulb above my head lit up and so changed the product a little more to make it stronger with more information to back it up.

Ask Tons of Questions: Since the process of this project had a lot of steps and we had an entire month to complete it we needed to set out a timeline for ourselves with different deadlines for each part of the process. 

The “questions” part of this step is the interviews, because if we are trying to solve a problem that includes the lives of people than people need to be included in my process and planning. Since my idea is based on cosmetics I visited both Sephora and Lush to pitch my idea and accept feedback and even criticism. The lady at Lush (a completely cruelty-free store) was very easy to talk to because they had the same goal as me, to stop animal testing. I like to think of Lush as the positive side of the argument, the employee that I spoke to agreed with everything I said to her and expanded on what I had said. Such as, people would definitely take a second thought and people would think about their buying choices more often.

After my discussion with the lady at Lush, I headed over to Sephora (a store carrying all brands, cruelty free and non-cruelty free) to pitch the same idea to an employee there, I was definitely expecting more of a discriminating reaction and reply from the employee but instead she provided me with some great insider information on the manufacturing of cosmetics. She informed me that in order for the bunny to be put on cruelty-free products packaging, that company has to pay 1 million dollars to the leaping bunny foundation to put it on their products (kind of like organic food stickers/packaging).

Understand the process or problem: Understanding the problem in my project was just completing more research to add on to my pre-knowledge and information from the interviews. 

Navigating Ideas: During this phase of the cycle, I looked over all the information and ideas I had collected over the past week and began to file them all into my first prototype. 

This prototype was not a physical one, I decided to draw out how I wanted the process of building to go so that I knew what to do when I got to that stage and to present my ideas in a non-verbal way. 

Create a Prototype: My second prototype was still not physical but I used Super Impose to layer the two images to show what my final product would look like. This prototype wasn’t very nice looking but it got my point across and showed the idea that I had in my head. 

Lastly, it was time for me to complete my third prototype, I took three different small travel shampoo bottles as the “product” and I began to design the packaging. I used Adobe Illustrator on my laptop to create the images that were to go on the bottles.

 

Highlight and Fix: A couple of days before our exhibition night I put together a poster board to present my information in an appealing way for the audience. 

 

Launch! 

On the 14th of June, we all showed our work to parents, siblings and teachers at our exhibition night at school. My presentations all went really well, my topic was very easy for me to talk about because I was already very passionate about the topic. 

Before the actual exhibition began we all worked together in our groups to decorate our area where we were to present. I set up fairy lights along the hallway to brighten up our area and made a sign for the entrance while the other members of my group made the floor look like a road with yellow and black duct tape and covered some of the walls in coloured paper. 

Once 5:30 came along, I felt very prepared and satisfied with my set up and product (unlike my Star Wars exhibition earlier in the year). Since my spot to present was in the hallway, I got to talk to lots of different people and I really think that I changed some people’s perspectives on the products they’re buying. 

Once the night was over I was surprised that it had gone by so fast, but I was also relieved that the exhibition was so successful, because at first, I wasn’t so sure about it. 

Overview:

As I reflect on my experience with this exhibition there are definitely places where I’ve improved since my last exhibition but there’s also part of this process that I’d like to do differently and improve on for the next exhibition I take part in. I’ll start with the negatives, (or the parts to improve on) I would like to take more time to interview people instead of rushing, by asking to film them talking or make the interview feel more like a conversation in order to get more information from the interviewee. The second step I would like to improve on for next time would be to start building prototypes sooner so that I’m more prepared when the time comes to build my final product and in the end, I have more prototypes to show my revisions throughout the project.

Now for the positives, (what I did well) before I began to put my project together I looked at my blog post from the star wars exhibition and reminded myself of what I failed at then and made sure I didn’t make the same mistake this time. The first part of my presentation that improves most noticeably was my set up, I had a more visible poster board with pictures and small pieces of writing that helped me present to my audience, my prototypes were on a glass vase and I had an animated video playing.  All of these improvements helped my presentation become much more interactive and interesting and it provided the audience with lots to look at. The second part of my project that I did well on was the presentation, during my previous exhibition I hadn’t prepared what I was going to say at all and my poster board hadn’t helped me. But this time I had my facts down and I was able to present to people without sounding like a robot.

In the end, I’m very proud of everyone who took part in this exhibition it ended up turning out great and I’m looking forward to next years bluesky.