Associations
DO SOMETHING FUN:
On the weekend I decided to have some fun by going to one of the biggest malls in the world: The Mall of America. I have only been there a couple of times and do not really remember my last experience. I did not want to go alone so I asked my friend Maggie to come along with me. We left the dorm at 11:30 am and walked all the way to the west bank metro transit station.
Once we made it to the west bank station we had to buy a ticket to ride the metro transit all the way to the Mall of America. After buying out tickets we had to wait a little while for the next tram. It finally arrived and we rode it only to the U.S. Bank station where we switched from the green line to the blue line, so we could finally make it to the Mall of America.
The ride was about half an hour, but we finally arrived at the mall. We ended up getting dropped off underground right next to the mall so I wasn’t able to understand how big the mall actually was. The first thing we did was go up to the third floor and eat from Qudoba. On the way up there I was able to take pictures of the mall from the inside and I started understanding how big this place actually was. I started getting worried about getting lost in this massive place, but all those thoughts disappeared after a couple bites into my delicious chicken burrito.
After eating lunch we went to our first storeand one of my favorites which is H&M. There I saw a ton of stuff I wanted but I made myself say no to almost everything since I am a broke college kid now. The one acception I made for myself was a peachy pink hoodie. I decided to buy this just because of how much I loved the color. I also really wanted to pick up a pair of sunglasses here since I somehow lost both my pairs when I moved in. Although I never found where they were in the store so I never managed to buy a pair.
Right after H&M Maggie and I went to ragstock so I could look for retro windbreakers and vintage baseball jerseys. Nothing ended up catching my eye so I didn’t buy anything here. I was really hoping to find a blue, maroon, or green jacket, but everything that had a little promise either had a rip in it or was way too big. I figured I could go online when I got back home and look at their online store even though they only have like one of each jacket in stock.
Following Ragstock we went to a bunch of other stores like Nike, Vans, Pacsun, Gap, Best Buy, and Urban Outfitters. Neither of us bought anything else, but just as we where about to leave Maggie realized that she lost her
phone! Imediatly I called it and it went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t a good sign. Then she tried using find my iPhone from my phone, but it wouldn’t let her sign in. Then we quickly remebered which stores we where last and decided to go visit each one and look for her phone. Shortly after making that plan we realized we really had no idea where each store was exactly located. We ended up almost walking around for three hours trying to relocate each store. Then we figured we could use one of the Macs in the apple store to try and use find my iPhone and see if whoever had it was at least still in the mall. The find my iphone was also a bust this time and after revisiting a couple more stores we both gave up.
Then to make her feel better I took her to build a bear and let her pick out a bear. She picked out a simple light brown bear and helped make build it. She decided to add a snickerdoodle scent which I agreed smelled amazing. Then she needed a name and I suggested Apple, after her lost iPhone. It looked like she was going to punch me right after I suggested it but then she admitted it was a fitting name. After Build-A-Bear we took the metro transit all the way home and I settled down for a nice nap after a fun and stressful adventure.
MIND MAP:
This is the organizational mind map that I came up with. I started with organization in the middle since it is the main idea then branched off to other areas/ rooms. I went from organization to areas/ rooms because my brain worked from going to the biggest idea to slowly smaller sub catagories. For example after organization I went to a bathroom, then to hygiene products, then to soaps, and finally shampoo. Each sub catagory gets more specific. Then my other main areas/ rooms I focused on besides bathrooms, were bedrooms, workplaces, kitchens, sports, and garages.
SUGGESTED THEMES:
My first theme I would like to focus on is swimming equipment. I beleive this is an important area to focus because I used to swim. Back when I swam I had a bag of swim suits, goggles (some broken, some functional) water bottles, towels, fins, and bouys. This was a highly cluttered bag and at the end of the year smelled and looked atrocious. There was never a good way to keep all my gear organized and clean. If there was any organizer for all that gear I would have bought it! My second theme is toy organizers. I beleive it is important to focus on this because the biggest reason I don’t want kids is having to pick up after them. But what if they picked up their toys themselves because it was also fun? I would like to focus on this area to create an organization tool that makes kids want to pick up after themselves and get rid of some parents duties. Lastly I would like to focus on the organization area of the pantry. I love food just like everybody else, but I can’t stand it when I can’t find the food I want! I want to get rid of this problem and make grabbing a quick snack easy and enjoyable.
SILLY IDEAS:
I came up with a bunch of ideas of new ways to organize things we use everyday. Most of my ideas came to me while looking at objects throughout my day and dwelling on how I can improve it. I also came up with some ideas though with the help of my mind map. My mind map was helpful because, once it was complete I could see areas that needed more organization options and from there I put more focus into that area. My first silly idea was a ball of sticky goop that had a tie or hook that could wrap around a strap and then be thrown to the wall and have it stick! My second idea was a boxy shelving unit that had magnetic corners so the shelving unit could be made into any funky design. My third idea was a sport equipment sorter. There would be holes in a wall that lead to bins behind the wall, so kids would enjoy throwing their toys into the appropriate place. My fourth silly idea was a table that had removeable glass top and under that was like a super formable foam. The idea was that you could put different objects in the foam to make your own design or center peice and reduce the clutter on top of the table. My fifth silly idea came from my mind map because I realized there isn’t too much organizing tools inside showers besides shelves or hooks. So I thought was if I got rid of all the clutter in the shower and put all the soaps inside the shower head. It would work by pressing a button on the side of the shower head and there would be soapy water and you could have multiple buttons for different soaps. My next idea was a simple hidden storage compartment inside a couch. My seventh idea combines decoration and organization. I decided to make a fake tree into a functional coat hanger, where coats, hats, or sweatshirts could be hung from built in wooden hooks in the branches or trunck. My eighth and ninth idea are perfect for kitchen organizaton. First I thought of designing bins that resembles some type of food like a cereal box and then all the cereal goes into that bin. This idea would work extremely well with pantries that have roll out shelves. My other idea was a station for all water bottles and you attach your bottle to a funnel that fills your bottle from a bigger funnel that also filters the water. This would be helpful for filling multiple bottles at the same time or just having a desginated place to put bottles. My tenth idea is a pocket designed like ones on your pants or shirts and having a cohesive back that can stick to any surface for accessable and fashionable storage. My eleveth idea is a little scary but I plan on changing the face when I think of a more friendly option. This is a play off the performers that can keep pulling an endless rope of handkerchiefs out of their mouths. I designed a clown that can store plastic grocery bags and if you ever need one you can pull it out of their mouth. My last and twelfth silly idea is a giant stuffed bear that has a storage area in its stomach. Kids can feed their toys to the bear and then there is a flap on the stomach that can access the stomach storage.
TIMELINE:
9/21- Make a mind map
9/23- Do a fun activity
9/24- Come up with themes
9/25- Come up with ten silly ideas
9/26- Finalize blog post
9/27- Turn in blog post
9/29- Do peer review
