Main Project Ideas and Inspiration

For my main project, I have yet to come up with a good idea to start designing and planning on. Since I have been busy with other projects and classes couple with the fact that we just finished the Upcycle project, I haven’t had enough time to brainstorm an idea and go through with it. But, because of the very same classes and projects (including the Upcycle Project), I feel very rejuvenated and refreshed in my sense of creativity and I am confident that this state of mind will make this process more fruitful. So, for this post, I will go through general ideas and inspirations that I entertain as possibilities for my project.

Since the project is supposed to be dynamic, as in containing at least one moving part or a part that will change over time, I believe the best way to approach this project would be from an engineering perspective. I am not sure about the aesthetic and design of my project, but I do know that I want my project to be something I could use and manipulate instead of a showpiece like my upcycling project. So, the first idea that came to mind on how to make a usable tool by engineering was an Arduino project. Arduinos could be used for many things and the practicality of building something around the Arduino materials is actually quite simple. Some ideas for an Arduino Project include:

1. Light sensitive lamp that can turn on automatically in the dark
2. Programmable Alarm clock
3. Mechanical Grinder
4. Music Box that can play different songs and light sequences

These seemed to be pretty great ideas but I also wanted options for projects that I can spend more time designing the aesthetic instead of the functionality of the project, which I couldn’t do with an Arduino project. So, I thought of other possibilities. I decided against doing any metallurgy since I didn’t have the tools, time, nor the budget to manipulate metal for a project in a way that fits my design other than using simple techniques and tools. But, then I thought of doing something nature oriented. Mechanized woodworking seemed like a good idea, so I thought I’d explore some of those options. I came up with the following ideas.

1. Wooden jack in the box
2. A Wooden doll that can move at each joint.
3. Wood footstool that doubles as a container

These ideas seemed interesting to work with, but I still wanted to explore organic design that replicated nature. Although I haven’t looked at many tools, materials, or even other art pieces for inspiration on working with natural design, I want to explore more into that territory in the following weeks. So, although my brainstorming process isn’t finished, I feel confident that my choice will be worth it and I am excited to work on it.

Featured Image: Mckinney, P. (2019, March 21). Brainstorming for fun and profit – 5 tips for teams. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://philmckinney.com/brainstorming-for-fun-and-profit-5-tips-for-teams/

Image 1: Stern, B., & Instructables. (2021, February 25). Input/output. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.instructables.com/InputOutput/