Products In The Making
This summer, TinkerTech ran a 6-week Design course for students in the BACR Middle School summer program at Venetia Valley school in San Rafael.
Twenty 8th-grade students from Marin County took part in this program. They met twice a week for a design challenge – to come up with a new brand of beverages and create a sustainable alternative for the plastic 6-pack can holders, which can harm marine life when the non-biodegradable plastic ends up in the ocean.
The program was Led by TinkerTech instructor Emma Lefley, who was impressed by the creative ideas the students had for the beverage products they developed, and the execution of those products using a combination of design software and physical modeling.
One of the aims of the program was to educate students about jobs in design, packaging, and manufacturing. The camp was sponsored by multiple companies including Specright, a specification management software company based in Orange County, California. Christine Curulla, a Digital Marketing Manager, visited the class to talk about Specright and how she came into her design career at a software company. She then posed the design challenge to the students for the beverage can and can holder.
“It’s one of our core values here at Specright,” said Christine Curulla, “to engage with academia and educate the next generation of product and packaging professionals. I loved getting to come into the classroom and talk with the students about the value of design in the software and packaging industries.”
Guided by TinkerTech instructor Emma Lefley and the BACR instructors, students brainstormed drinks brands and packaging designs, finishing the course with a cardboard prototype, elevator pitch and business plan that included competitors, pricing and stores where their drink would be sold.
Among the most ingenious were Cocalastik, a drink for diabetics, invented by students Fernando and Ashley, Lemon Candy – a ‘sweet and sour drink’ by student team Pamela and Lissa… and finally Shrek Energy Drinks, a 6-pack of drinks for ages 7 and up with bright green packaging and fun animal labels.
Students were coached in how to write an elevator pitch and explored the story of the camp’s leading sponsor, Nestlé, a business empire that was built on the success of its first formula milk.
“I am so pleased that with NBT Foundation funding we were able to work with non-profit Bay Area Community Resources to offer this course to these students in San Rafael,’ said TinkerTech Founder Claire Comins. ‘When you are a teenager, it’s hard to know what courses you even want to take at high school, let alone the career that you are building towards. I hope that they all have a better insight into the world of design, entrepreneurship as well as STEM careers and the opportunities that are waiting to be explored in manufacturing.”
The finished prototype designs on display in the gallery at the school ready for the final pitch
A copy of the curriculum book from the Nuts & Bolts foundation.