Studio: Lessons from November
During November, my classes shifted gears into longer-term projects and I also took on a few extracurricular projects that were tremendously rewarding.
Critical Making
In early November, we were given our final class assignment to make something and document our process. In my submission, I proposed making my Drynamic Bag concept, which is a hydrodynamic dry-bag for pulling gear over the water. I purchased the materials and also worked on a high-fidelity website prototype to go along with this project. Here is a concept sketch of the bag alongside what I built:
I was also interested in custom soap-bar making and decided to explore this direction and submit this project as well. It started as a 3D print, which was replicated in a silicone mold that was used to create 10 additional plastic originals. I created a larger silicone mold in order to pour a large batch of soap to mass-produce the custom soap molds.
The third dimension of space really made me think about how to cut corners and reduce things so I could stretch my supplies and budget. This process illuminated the incredible world of plastics and how molds and replicas can lead to producing more objects quickly.
Entrepreneurship Design
This past month, our Future of Work team named KROW (work spelled backward) explored the theme of the future of work, our problem statement, and did early research into areas of solutions.
Our current problem statement is:
“In the context of the rapid spatial dispersion of work, how do we foster a meaningful role for work in our communities and society? What new technologies and opportunities can transitioning workers utilize within their communities?”
Near the end of November, we started thinking about the demographics of age and folks who are older. We started to think about retirees having time, accumulated assets, and knowledge that is often overlooked in our society. They are the second biggest population in the US and will be an increasingly larger population of workers in the future.
We also interviewed Katherine Keegan, Director of the Office of the Future of Work for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, who provided us with many helpful thoughts and suggestions for our project. In our next steps, we will interview other people who are nearing or recently retired to get their input.
Leadership Design
We continued to have conversations about leadership involving the self, which is the foundation for leading others. We discussed shame, which to me is the self-conscious feeling of doubt and failings that take my mind out of the situation and environment and make it invest in inward self-critique. It is the feeling of being in a group and wanting to contribute like I know I can, but having a wall where I just can’t. It spirals into the self-critique where I try to force a response or action to get through the feeling of shame but having a voice provide negative feedback saying, “Yep, you really are stupid. Now you’ve shown it.”
To counter-balance shame and vulnerability I feel that investing in habits that help to thrive socially, physically, and mentally. Building up these capacities is not about making grand gestures, but small, intentional acts every day that eventually create habits that support our well-being and resilience to vulnerability and shame.
User Experience Design
We worked on high-fidelity prototyping throughout the month, one project individually and another project as a group. I used guide points provided by my instructors and other resources for choosing colors and design elements. In the first example, I prototyped a Drynamic Bag website and in the following example, I worked on a team to envision a website for real-estate remodels in corporate spaces.
Extracurriculars
Pandemic Innovation Challenge:
I competed in a 2-week pitch challenge where I worked on a three-person team to dive into a specific industry that has suffered major challenges as a result of the pandemic. One of my teammates was a math PhD and the other a law student. We set out to propose an innovation that we believe presents an impactful solution to a problem in our selected industry.
With the guidance and support of a long-time friend, Michael Tornabene, we focused on the commercial real estate industry and envisioned a company that reenvisions how to use space that is unused due to COVID and the trend to a more spatial dispersion of work. In short, we got second place and you can check out our pitch.
New Venture Challenge Lead:
Early this year, I was nominated to be a New Venture Challenge Lead, which is a point-person of a cohort of ~10 teams or ~50 people who are competing in a University-wide pitch competition with dozens of teams competing for $100,000 available for awards. With my co-lead, Isaac, we will help students navigate the NVC and connect them with mentors and the support they need on their journey.
It is an awesome opportunity to connect with students, mentors, and have a deeper experience with entrepreneurialism. I also have the responsibility and added pressure of being the only dual lead and participant in the NVC.
Pitchure Perfect:
I’ve been working on the side as a consultant with a best friend, Jesse Martinek. Throughout November, we worked with a client to support their entrepreneurial efforts in the crucial phase of pitching. We created video and pitch deck assets to help them gain traction and earn investors’ support.
