(WARNING THIS WILL PROBABLY BE A LONG BLOG POST) Hey guys welcome back, today is special because it’s THE LAST BLOG POST OF THE YEAR! it’s been quite a ride, and I’m both sad and excited to be finished! But today we are talking about blue sky, and the spring exhibition! The spring exhibition was very similar to the winter exhibition. We had set stations with certain groups of people who’s projects were in the same category as yours, but this time we with the grade nines! The project this exhibition was very different then usual!

Our project this exhibition was really strange. The only criteria was 1. You have to design whatever you make, and 2. It had to be important to you. So if you’re still a little confused we basically had to make something it could be an app, product, company, whatever you wanted, it just had to be yours! This entire project was called blue sky! The idea of blue sky (which was created by companies like Google), was if you give your workers time in the day to come up with ideas and try them, you could do amazing things! Fun fact, Gmail was created as someone’s blue sky project at google! Once we had learned of this magical new blue sky, Ms. Williemse released us onto our longest preparation document so far, the launch journal! If you’re not entirely sure what the launch journal is, that’s OK, I had no clue either! It was essentially a book that helped us go through the steps of making our blue sky idea come alive. If that’s still doesn’t make 100% sense, that’s ok, it will become more clear to you as I explain the steps! 

The first step of our launch journal was to look, listen, and learn. This meant we had to do three different tasks, all of which were supposed to help us look, listen, and learn.  The first task was to answer three questions about the world we live in today, and the problems you think it faces.  AfterWe had finished the three questions we had to conduct a survey. I had already had an interest in remaking the chalk bag (which is used for storing chalk in climbing), so I went straight down to the climbing wall to ask a survey about chalk bags! I asked questions like what problems do you have an a chalk bag, what do you look for when you’re buying a chalk bag, and if you could add anything to a chalk bag what would you add? After I did all that I did a “how might we”, which was essentially trying to come up with your own driving question. My “how might we” was “How might we improve the chalk bag to make it more effective for every climber who uses it?”. After I had done this stage I have a general idea about what I wanted to fix, but I had no idea how to fix it. I didn’t think I learned that much from this stage, but that was mostly because it was just setting up for the rest of this massive project!

In the second stage we asked lots of questions. We were basically told to write down a list of our questions that we had about the project and what we thought we were going to make. We called these our “need to knows”. Some of my “need to knows” were things like “how many drafts will it take to make a chalk bag?”, or “ what materials do you need to make a chalk bag?”, or even “ how much will it cost to build a chalk bag?”. After I had asked plenty of questions, I also had to write my action plan for what I was going to do, and when I was going to do it. I wrote down some dates of when I thought I was going to finish drafts and that was the second section done! I also didn’t feel like I learned a ton from this section, except for maybe setting dates is very hard when making a product. Things always change and usually most things don’t happen by when you’ve said they will. 

Before we started our third section we had to send in a pitch form about our product, and then sit down with Ms. Willemse and she would tell you if she approved your idea or not. If not you would have to redo the first two stages with different ideas and then come back with your next idea for approval, but if she approved you you got to move onto the third stage! Luckily I was approved first try and started my third stage! 

For the third stage we had to try and understand the problem we were fixing by doing research. By then I had settled on my idea, I was going to make a chalk bag with a flexible weighted bottom so it wouldn’t fall over and spill chalk when people hit it. In this stage I did a lot of research about whether there were any chalk bags on the market that had a flexible weighted bottom, and I only found none. The chalk bag I found had a flat weight for the bottom so it would tip over just as much if not balanced in the right way. After I had figured out that my idea was unique I had to find out how you could actually make it! So I did some research on how to DIY a chalk bag and I found some images that could help me when I designed my bag. I also looked into some of the stats around the chalk bag market to find out what companies I should contact in the next stage. In this stage I learned a lot. Not only about how to properly research, but also on how to take things you find and use the information to help you re-design something. For instance the images I found around designing a DIY chalk bag where for the wrong type and size of chalk bag, but I was able to take some general information from them that would REALLY help me in the next stages. 

In this stage I had to navigate through my ideas. Basically I Wrote down the big ideas I had for my chalk bag in the sticky notes app, I didn’t have to group them according to what they were about, and decide if they were worth doing or not. Although this was a less complicated stage I learned so much from it. I learned a lot about how to group ideas so that it was more clear on what was good and bad, but also how to go through your ideas and decide if you could realistically do them or not. 

In this next stage I created some prototypes! We did a mix Rapid prototyping and live prototyping. Rapid prototyping is where you make quick, and easy prototypes that don’t involve the use of your materials. For example A rapid prototype could be a drawing or video of what you want your eventual product to be. I made three rapid prototypes including a diagram, drawing, and 360° animation of my eventual chalk bag. The rapid prototyping was when I actually got to draw out the design I wanted for my chalk bag. Although I did end up changing the design a bit, it was very helpful to have. I also learned a lot about how to make a design and how you draw out an idea. After I had done my rapid prototyping I started my live prototyping, which means I had to figure out how to use a sewing machine!

After rapid prototyping I started live prototyping. Live prototyping meant I actually had to create something with the materials I had. I made only two live prototypes because I didn’t have enough materials for more. I used a sewing machine to make both my live prototypes. My first prototype used an old pair of jeans, some fabric napkins, an old sheet, and some rice to weight the bottom. My second prototype used felt, a waterproof canvasy fabric, an old napkin, and some black eyed peas to weight the bottom. Although this stage was BY FAR the hardest stage it was also the stage that taught me the most. It taught me a lot about how to use a sewing machine, but also how to edit a design so that it is more useful and more easy to make. You have to learn the first design isn’t always the best and there is always room for improvement in a design. 

After I had made my two live prototypes, I took them down to my local climbing gym for feedback. The first prototype had a lot of issues. The material was far too floppy and fell over without being touched at all. It also had no way of sealing itself so it leaked all over your bag. Lastly it also had no place to hold your climbing brushes, and no way to close the pocket. So as you read in the previous paragraph, in the second draft I changed the materials so the fabric was stiffer, but I also tried to fix all the other problems by adding a brush holder, a buckle to close it up so it wouldn’t leak, and a brush holder. Even after all the improvements the second draft still had some things to fix. It wasn’t wide enough, it was a bit too tall, the pocket was still messily sewn on, and the button to close it was weak. The stage taught me a lot about taking feedback and putting it into your next design, because sometimes the feedback might seem a bit rude but you still need to really listen to what people are saying because it can really improve your design. 

Now that I’ve explained blue sky I have to talk about the exhibition! My group was individual sports and we were in the middle of the library. I had six people in my group including me (Keira, grace, Jackson, Liam, Felix). The theme of our area was outdoorsy/forest. We were set up with Kira and Grace at the back of the room (because they were both doing dance products) and me, Liam, Felix, and Jackson on the other side. Spent a lot of time making trees and bushes out of green paper to decorate our area and I think it looked really cool! 

At the exhibition lots of people were wandering around and going to various stations asking questions. It was quite a bit different from the Winter exhibition because I was only talking about my project, and it was only me there to explain it. It did teach me a lot more about how to approach and explain to people what my product was, even when they didn’t know climbing was or who I was. It was a really cool experience to get to share my journey of blue sky with other people who weren’t just my classmates, and I learned a lot about speaking and explaining to people my process of learning and why I choose that project.

Overall blue sky and the spring exhibition was an awesome experience! I got to work on a project where I decided almost everything and I also got to work with a brand new grade level (grade 9’s) who I had never worked with before! I learned a lot about how to sew, how to take an idea and turn it into a tangible thing or product, and how to explain learning to people who didn’t even understand what I was making. I had so much at this exhibition and I can’t wait for the next one! I hope you all have a great summer BECAUSE I’M FINALLY FREE FROM HOMEWORK!!

See ya next year guys! 

Holly✌️