Creative and Fun Desk Redesign for Online School

This school year has been really unique and different from the normal school experience. Due to covid-19, my school decided that we would be taking Online Distance Learning. To work online through zoom, I needed to have a good work space in my home. Unfortunately, my desk at home was not the best at creating a comfortable and unique work space when taking online school. So, I joined the Design For Change class at ASFM and put a goal for myself, to redesign my home desk to make online school the easiest it can possibly be. I decided to join the Make A Tool contest because I strongly believe that redesigning my desk could be seen like a tool as it would be facilitating my Online Distance Learning experience. Like Harold Geneen said, "If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job." That's why my desk will be full of school materials like notebooks and folders.

Supplies

LED Lights

Plants

Plant Pot

Water Bottle

Soda Cans

Desk Mat

Desk Organizers

Lamp

Pencils or Pens

Step 1: Starting the Design Thinking Process.

To begin my design thinking process, I had to begin the empathy phase. Design thinking is a process designers take to create their product. My design would be a desk that could make me feel comfortable and at the same time be unique.

Step 2: Discovery and Interpretation

Even though many people may not know, empathy is key in design. Designers need to be able to have empathy to understand issues and problems for them to later solve. It connects with design because designers focus on improving and solving issues in the modern world. The users in this project are my brothers. I interviewed all three of them and talked to them about there perfect desk. From there, I created several drivers and constraints. Drivers are things I want to improve or achieve with my project and constraints are issues I may encounter while creating and designing.

Step 3: Ideation

The ideation phase is a part of design when all your creative thoughts and ideas are starting to be created. Our wonderful teacher Ms. Ugarte told us that we had 10 minutes to create 10 sketches. I tried to base these sketches on my drivers and constraints. After this part, we were to gather all sketches and begin our prototype. Up above are some of my sketches.

Step 4: Setting Up the LED Lights

After gathering with all materials, I was that I wanted my desk to have a fun, unique and comfortable design. I decided that Led Lights would help set the fun colorful mood in my design. So to begin, you need to unbox the led lights. After that you need to grab the LED strip and chose a place to stick it. Remember, smooth walls are the best location since it will help the LED strip stay in its place. If you want, clean the location with alcohol wipes before you begin putting the strip. Then, you have to peel of the tape slowly as your sticking the strip at the chosen location. Go slowly, because it might not stick so well. When you finish covering your chosen place with the LED lights, press on the strip twice to make sure it gets a good grip. But wait, there's more. You can have fun with these lights and customize there colors through the app remote control. On the remote control you can chose up to 20 different colors. But if you download the app for the Romwish Smart Led Strip Light you can play music, customize your color with a color wheel, adjust the brightness and even setup color moods for different times of the day. When you are done with this, enjoy!

Step 5: Creating Recycled Soda Can Pencil Holders

Why build and spend more money when you can recycle. I created soda can pencil holders using recycled material and it gives a cool creative touch to my redesign. It looks nice and it helps the environment. My family held a small reunion this weekend so I decided to collect the soda cans they drank and use it for my project. For this small decoration will need a soda can opener. You need to grab the soda can opener and put one of the blades on the rim of the soda can. Once you do this, push until you hear the click. Then, grab the spinning red lever and twist it slowly to the right. Keep on doing this until the whole lid of the soda can pops off. Finally, clean it up with water and its ready to be used. Inside you can put pens, color pencils, regular pencils, markers, sharpies, highlighters etc.

Step 6: Adding Essentials

I chose to add certain things that would help make my desk more organized and look better. For example, I added plants and a good smelling spray can to make the environment feel calm and relaxing. I also added a light with adjustable warmths. These could be used when you don't want to use the led lights or natural light from the window. Adding on, I added a desk organizer to help keep things organized and clean on my desk. Other decorations like a painting and a desk mat also are optional. However, having a desk mat can change the way your desk feels and looks when working. These items are what will make your desk unique and personal.

Step 7: Conclusion

Redesigning my desk has been a real adventure and I have loved it. I believe it turned out great. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Have a good one and thanks for reading!