For the past two months, we have been working on a project called Blue Sky. Blue Sky was created by a company called 3M, and has been used on a number of platforms since. It is a time period that companies give to employees to brainstorm and create an innovative invention!

For our projects, we had to come up with a problem for one of five demographics: Seniors, toddlers, babies, tweens and pets. I decided to go with pets, because I already had a problem I could fix. You see, lately, when my dog has been left unattended, she takes herself down to the beach. Because she is mostly left alone on the deck, I wanted to make something that would fit at the top of the stairs. I knew there were already things, like baby gates, that would slide up or down/left to right. I was thinking more collapsible, making it easier for people to get around. Once I pitched it to the teachers, and proved that it wasn’t already a thing, I got approved!

Once I got approved, started working on a design for it. I thought I had an idea that would work, but it didn’t. So I restarted, and with some critique, I got my idea.

I researched for a bit, and found what I thought to be the best materials. Got some interviews. So I started building!

https://youtu.be/G5iYcTtW0JI

Measuring, cutting, sawing, bending, glueing, etc was what followed. It took a while, but I was striving towards my goal.

https://youtu.be/LkwSlw_BbxA

https://youtu.be/Kmae_6OezzM

The first draft, made of cardboard, toothpicks and tissue paper, showed the basic idea. But I wanted to make it sturdier. So I tried wood. My second draft kept coming apart, but even when it wasn’t, it was not the right size. Numéro three, was blown up to twice the size. It was so big, that it wouldn’t support its own weight.

PLP is all about revision and edits, but sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. That is what happened to my Blue Sky. If i had more time, I probably would have done more drafts. I explained this all at the exhibition in the PLP Pet Store!