Middle schoolers worked with my team at Staples and consulting partner Aruliden in conceiving, researching and presenting ideas for new marketable school supplies that better meet their needs.   We partnered with middle school students at Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia and M.S. 88 in Brooklyn, NY to teach them about the product design process and create marketable ideas through a design thinking workshop lasting 6-8 weeks.

Students learned about the work that we do to define a problem and deliver a prototype.  We guided each group of three through the process of conceiving, researching and presenting their ideas for new school supplies.  

My team at Staples transformed their practical, creative ideas into product design sketches, and 10 of these concepts are hitting shelves for BTS 2015:  The Back2Back is decked out with two tech compartments and a detachable bottom, while the "Big Pen Pencil Case" holds writing utensils in a stylus-shaped bag that comes with a built-in eraser, pencil sharpener and highlighter. 

While Staples has effectively tapped into a new pool of experts by bringing the design process to consumers, MS 88 Principal Ailene Mitchell believes students have also engaged in discovery through this project. "You can go to school and be a student and you can also be an inventor," she says. "You don't have to wait 10 years or 15 years, you can be an inventor in middle school if you can think that way."