Fun Cubbies Final Blog Post- (Martinez J, Gutierrez, Calles)

At the Make-o-Rama show, our group presented the Fun Cubbies prototype. Fun Cubbies was our reinvented group of a new innovative way to bring storage into a home. We explained the struggles and successes of our product. What we were proud of and how our ideas changed throughout the project.

During the Make-o-Rama show, we were able to talk to people about our product and how our prototype relates to the final product design we were planning on creating. When people passed by our table, there were some people that were confused about what our product was and what its purpose was, as they would notice our group name first and then take a look at our product and tried to connect the two. Even though we were only able to create a prototype, it was nice to know that there were still some people that were interested in what we were presenting. At first, everyone didn’t feel like our product was as interesting as the projects from others but after we explained to them what our purpose was and how our final product should have looked like, they were excited to have seen the final product. They gave us good comments about how this product seemed like a cool project to have worked on and that innovating the older cubbies and given it a new modern look to it would make it more appealing to the audience. The word “cool” was said a lot when explaining our product to our audience.

At the beginning of the product we thought we would have had at least one finished product to show at the Make-o-Rama. We were ready to get to work and have a product that people could interact with. Unfortunately, we were not able to have that product, but we had a prototype that the students and adults seemed to enjoy. There was a poster board with slides that explained who Fun Cubbies was, our mission, and the processes of making our Fun Cubby. We thought more people would take interest in our cubby, but since there was only a prototype the community could not see what we were really going for. After all, we had a successful presentation and felt like it was a lot of fun.

If we were able to start the project over again I’m sure the entire group would agree that time management was a big factor when it came to developing our product. Something that could have been redone also could have been researching and planning more, more specifically when it came to materials. If more research had been done when it came to what materials would have been the most appropriate to our cubbies, we would have been able to make a prototype even closer to what our real, full-sized cubby would have looked like. Something that might have prevented us from doing more with the cubby was that originally Fun Cubbies was going to make a locker designed for the college dorm. If we had started with the idea of a cubby from the very beginning of the semester, it would have given us a head start when it comes to planning out our game plan for creating a new project.

If this project would have consisted of more than three people, it might have been similar to our Capstone project. This project, Fun Cubbies, and the fall semester project helped us mainly with the design process of the product because in Capstone, there were more things involved with the process of creating our own business. In this class, we focused on one part of what the whole Capstone project was about. In Capstone we had to set up our own business and decided who would be running the group, who was in charge, the different groups we needed in order to make the business process run smoothly. Overall, if this class included more people per group and continued to check in at a regular basis to help see where the product design stands, it would relate a little more like the Capstone projects.

Time management played a huge role in this project. Without the proper plan everything can fall apart, and you can become very stressed. Waiting until the last minute is not the way to do a project. There has to be deadlines and a schedule, just so you can see your timeline and know what you need to have and when you need to have it. Also, communication is what keeps the project in order. If no one knows what’s going on or what they’re supposed to do then the final product will not be complete. If you’re in a group everyone has to be on one accord, which means constant communication. Let everyone choose what they’re comfortable with and set roles. If everyone wants to be the leader then nothing will get done. Choose one or two leaders, and then assign other roles based on strengths. Finally be flexible, the plan you have will change multiple times. That’s okay, just take the ideas you liked from the previous project and implement them in the new one. It’s the best way to make an amazing final product. Sticking with your original idea and no revisions doesn’t bring out the best product.

If you come up with an idea early on in the project, great. However, you should come up with the difficulties you may face in the future if you begin to try to develop your project because if you get too far into the project then stumble upon a problem that may be too hard to overcome in the time or with the constraints you have, you will have to change projects like we did and have less time for your new idea. The bright side of that is you end up with a doable project, but it may be hard to stressful to come up with new research, goals, and motives.

One of the most challenging parts of this project was managing our time and figuring out ways to create the product.  In the end we, as a group, figured out what we wanted to create and figured out how we were going to make our product but the problem with not being able to order our materials in time for the Make-o-Rama and only having to create a prototype and showcasing the prototype was the thing that was the most challenging and hardest to cope with. What was fun about this project was figuring out ideas of how we were going to create the Fun Cubbies. We had fun choosing the different type of materials that we would have liked to incorporate with our product. We also had fun taking a trip to our original customers house and viewing the possible designs that the Fun Cubbies would have.

A good idea that may be seen next year is hopefully getting some ideas going for the students of this future class. Maybe some of them will see our cubby the next school year and pick up where we left off, seeing new improvements to make, making a full sized model of our prototype, and adding their new ideas to an already existing product. Even if future groups don’t continue our Fun Cubbies business, maybe our idea of a cubby can help them branch off something similar and innovative, even if it is not a cubby.

Overall, we would give our team a 92 because we did work hard even though it may not seem like it by the look of the prototype but our group did put in a lot of thinking and building time in order to create at least a prototype. We also had to cope with a lot of time constraints because our design was changing constantly and we had to start over from the beginning. We as a group think that a 92 is a solid grade that reflects our hard work that we have put in throughout the year and it also reflects how we got through all the challenges that we were put up against throughout the year as well. There were some things that we could have changed and done better so therefor we don’t think we need a high 90 but we did work hard so a 92 seems like a grade that we could all agree on being a fair grade.