In my first brainstorming of ideas, I thought of a lot of practical tool inventions. I soon realized that these ideas were either unreasonable to create, or are too similar to an already existing tool.
Eventually I came up with the problem of safety, specifically for runners at night. Being seen while running at night can be fixed with the fanny pack that I created. Lights, reflectors, and a built in alarm were the main features and solutions to the problem.
After the in class critique, I realized features of my tool that work, and features that don’t work. It is difficult to think of a tool that hasn’t been invented yet, and to have it solve a problem that does not yet have a solution. In my case, a fanny pack, reflectors, and lights all already exist, and reflective gear for runners is a solution that already exists. This critique made me realize that I need to think of a completely new tool, and I need to think way outside of the box.