Innovative Backpack Design Challenge

1. 1. Please have these Items on your desk. Agenda ScienceStartersSheet 2- Fill out your Agenda. Thursday, July 27th Day 2 What features in a backpack do you think make the perfect backpack? Who needs a backpack? www.definedstem.com/tasks/index.cfm?asset_guid=76BC1F59-4018-4C9C-A68C-7BE395B68FEF

2. The problem! • No product is perfect. Your job is to figure out what is not correct in the current configuration of a backpack and fix it. • Solve the problem and write your “problem statement”. A problem statement will outline the basic facts of the problem, explain why the problem matters, and pinpoint a solution as quickly and directly as possible.

3. Example of a Problem Statement Overfill has been a serious problem facing our city waste facilities for the last decade. By some estimations, our city dumps are, on average, 30% above capacity—an unsanitary, unsafe, and unwise position for our city to be in. Several methods have been proposed in order to combat this. Perhaps the most popular of these is the simplest: building two new landfills on the county outskirts. Others have proposed stronger recycling campaigns and larger per-bag waste disposal costs as a way to lessen the potential damage of our trash situation. Bluffington is close to drowning in trash. Action is needed if our city is to remain the clean, safe place to live it has always been.

4. Who you are designing for. . . (Target Audience) • Person hiking in the Amazon. • A Jr. High school student athlete. • A student in Japan • An Antarctic explorer. • A parent with young children. • A hiker scaling Mt. Everest. • A kid going to camp. • A child going to pre-school. • An adult with a medical issue. • An astronaut.

5. Design a backpack • You have just been hired by a sporting goods company who wishes to develop and market a new backpack for 21st century consumers. This new backpack will need to compete with current competitors on the market. This job will require problem solving and research skills pertaining to the design, aesthetic, and usability of the backpack(s). • You will need to individually draw a model through the process of ideation. Following the ideation, your team should select a design that incorporates advanced sketching and that represents three views of the new backpack design. Your team will outline a design aesthetic that will appeal to the target audience for this new backpack.

6. Your Role • You are part of a team of backpack designers. Your team's challenge is to create a new backpack, designed for one of the groups listed in slide 2. • This challenge will allow you to determine what current backpack users are looking for in a new backpack design. • You will need to talk about what your target audience needs and consider what could be included or changed and improved in the design, materials, and aesthetics of the backpack. • You should consider current backpack users for insights into the aesthetic and design of new backpack.

7. Your Target Audience • At the unveiling, you will need to share your drawing of the backpack and explain the decisions you made about the design process. Be sure to share the materials and design options that may be available, as the target audience will be interested. Be sure to consider the following: • Design • Material • Storage capacity • Overall utilization

8. What’s next . . . . • Your design team has one goal: to improve the utility, comfort and aesthetic of backpacks currently on the market. • Next, you should prioritize your designs by selecting one for the creation of advanced sketches in three separate views. • These sketches will include dimensions, volume, zipper locations, logo design and placement, colors, and material selections.

9. Critical Characteristics • The following questions should be answered in identifying critical characteristics of your backpack based upon your target audience. • What attributes do you want to include in your backpack to help meet the needs of your target audience? • What aesthetic qualities should you consider for the design of your backpack to meet the needs of your target audience? • What design constraints must you consider based upon the user and the environment in which the backpack will be used?

10. Please make sure your station is cleaned up and return to your seat.