For our spring exhibition we were tasked with our blue sky project. Our spring exhibition is just the like our winter one ( click Here to read about that one). As for blue sky, well I had no idea what it was but I will be explaining that very soon. Just know that this is a very fun project that makes people think very creatively in constructing a solution. So without further ado here is my spring exhibition/ blue sky post.

First off Blue Sky is when people come up with ideas for apps, products, or even improving on products to solve some problem that they know of or have experience with. The steps to complete this task were called the LAUNCH steps and they were very helpful for organizing information and placing it where it needed to be.

So in the first step which is L which stood for look listen and learn, we were tasked to do was think of a real world problem that you think needs a solution, these could be huge things like protecting endangered animals or smaller things like.. a fruit holder ( I don’t think anyone did this but I think it would be helpful). So the problem I though of first was sporting equipment, fidget toys and new and better gloves for all types of situations. 

In A which stood for ask, we were assigned to create a Need To Know chart ( NTK’s). Here is were we would start to ask questions like “ how much is this”, “how to make this” stuff like that. Here is also where I would start to pick one problem and go with that one because it made sense and it would have many purposes around the house. This of course would be the sport holder. I found that this part helped clarify a good solution to my problem by showing me what I could do in order to create this solution.

In U, (understand) I had to start asking questions, specifically towards my target audience which would be my brothers and my parents since they would be the ones using it. Some helpful things they said were things like “ normal sports equipment holders are very heavy and basic”. This got me thinking what If I could create one that was light but also able to sun bleach equipment so that it would not smell bad. I know that smelly equipment is a serious issue in my house and that this would help keep our house more clean.

In N for navigate I started thinking of possible designs for my contraption and how it could be strong enough to hold equipment, but light enough for someone to move. to show my design process I created images using Sketches Pro and  Mindnode to help me see all the different things I could do to make this product functional.

In C ( create) and H ( highlight) I started to creat prototypes. Not physical ones, these ones where called rapid prototyping which is where I used more apps to creat visuals for my final product, I used

sharp 3D , sketches pro again, and the measuring app thats on the iPad.

Then came that actual prototype. It was ok at first, but after I got my feedback from parents and brothers it became a lot better. In H I had to highlight and change so I did, I found parts that worked like the frame and parts that didn’t like the pegs. After that I changed all the necessary parts. After that here is what my final product looked like.

 

Skipping ahead to the night of the exhibition. It was very fun, there were lots of people, food and incredible inventions. My group which was Team Sports got to set up our stuff outside and so we were also able to create a small obstacle course for anyone who wanted to try it out. I think I learned a lot for Blue Sky, things like not every ideas works out but its great to keep thinking of new ones and building one previous ones. Also using as much creativity really helped bring out and amazing product. 

With all that in mind I can wait for next year and another Blue Sky project if we do one.

That’s all for now.