Creative Design -- and the semester -- in full swing

Last I wrote, Creative Design for Affordability was off to a roaring start. We'd introduced our projects and been treated to a workshop on design thinking by Design Continuum.

After that week, I was treated to four beautiful days of rest and relaxation in Puerto Rico with my wife, Shannon. What a nice way to spend spring break!

After break, the class continued to exceed expectations on just about every level. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from some of our first guest lecturers -- Jack Goncalo from Cornell's School from Industrial and Labor Relations, who discussed team dynamics and brainstorming; Bob LaPerle, a former Kodak executive who talked us through the rebirth of the one-time use camera; and Jack Yu, the head of human factors engineering at Kodak.

All three of these gentlemen succeeded in knocking the class' socks off.

And all the while, we've been working on team dynamics with the help of Clint Sidle, director of the Park Leadership Fellows program. Also, at the beginning of each class session, we take 20-30 minutes for brainstorming and prototyping, and the class has been exciting and especially engaging because of it.

Last week, we reached our first major milestone, when each team presented their first prototypes to the class. The Comet Skateboards teams each presented some mock-ups of stylish hoodies and pants with removable protective gear, and the human-powered corn grinder teams each presented a small-scale prototype made out of cardboard, sticks, pipe cleaners, and the like.

Here are some photos from that session:
Picasa Web Albums - Purenza Wing Yee - 20090406 CDfA

Of course, we've since come down from the clouds. Apparently, the Cornell risk management department has some concerns about the safety of the building that we plan to undertake, particularly as it relates to developing human-powered corn grinding apparatus. At times, I worry that we'll be derailed, and the goal of the course -- actually getting our hands dirty to build real, working prototypes -- might not be realized. But overall, I know that if we've made it this far, we can push through to the end and achieve success. It might take some creativity, but as luck would have it, we've spent the last five weeks learning to harness our creative juices and apply them to challenging situations just like this.