Syracuse University’s School of Design recently partnered with Quirky, a home and office product invention incubator, to brainstorm new party supply ideas.

The Quirky partnership was spearheaded by SU alumnus Lex Zelekowitz. Nearly 100 students participated in the challenge over a two-week period. The winners will be chosen in March.

The theme of the challenge was “The World’s Greatest Party Host,” pushing students to design innovative party-planning and hosting products.

The Daily Orange spoke with Professor Denise Heckman, program coordinator in the university’s industrial and interaction design program, and Madelyn Minicozzi, a fifth-year student in the program, about the partnership.

The Daily Orange: What is Quirky?

Madelyn Minicozzi: The partnership with Quirky we have is actually through an alumnus named Lex. He reached out to our department to ask and see if we would be interested in a partnership with Quirky and to do a challenge.

Our department thought it would be a really good way to ease back into the semester and create collaboration between the years.

The parameters for the project were (that) every team had to have one person from each graduating class. It created a connection with Quirky and built relationships within all five years of the program.

Denise Heckman: Quirky takes ideas and they know how to actually get things manufactured. A lot of people have ideas — but one out of every 500 can actually work. They look at what is unique and what would sell on the market.

Quirky doesn’t care what they make. All they want to do is make something that has a market that’s unique. They crowdsource all their ideas.

The D.O.: How often do these challenges occur within the design program?

M.M.: I feel that there is a lot of independent opportunities, but never a lot of opportunities for big group things like this. Or being able to actually see a person behind the competition.

The alumni came back and talked to all of us, about what he’s doing now in New York. It really built the connection. This was unique and doesn’t happen often.

D.H.: This is the first time we have ever done it with Quirky.

The D.O.: What is the point of these projects?

M.M.: It implements mentorship. The way that we are set up at the Warehouse is (that) first year, you’re kind of all over the place. From your second-year, third-year, fourth-year — you have a desk on the fifth floor at the Warehouse.

This project brings us all together. We are all at different points in the design process and have different skills, so it’s nice to be able to share those with other people. I’m a fifth-year, so I got to mentor the students.

The D.O.: What is the timeline for the project?

D.H.: The students had one week to come up with an idea. Then one week to get it down on paper — to explain the idea visually … Quirky looked at all of them.

We came up with about 100 ideas. Quirky decided which ones would be shown to their partners, and the partners choose which ones to prototype.

The D.O.: How do you feel about this project?

M.M.: Personally, I would like to see this happen at the beginning of every semester. Sometimes I feel like we forget why we picked our major because it’s so intense. Projects like this remind us why we choose our major.

The D.O.: Do you see student improvement after these projects?

D.H.: What was great is the groups were multi-year. So the younger students see what skill sets they will end up with at the end, and the older students will understand that anyone can come up with a good idea. This gives the students a real-world experience they wouldn’t have otherwise.

The D.O.: Do you have any other connections to companies like Quirky?

D.H.: Not like Quirky. We have worked with larger companies like Motorola, but never like Quirky. Quirky just throws us a really broad idea — that’s why I agreed to do this. Also, the students can get money from this. This is like, “Hey, you get this on the market, you get royalties.”

The D.O.: How is the group work environment? Does this simulate the “real world”?

M.M.: I liked the group work environment. I am sure it’s different from every perspective. It was a little stressful knowing that I was in the mentor position. For the fifth year, there’s a lot of expectations. You don’t want to let them down.

The D.O.: Do you see a longtime partnership with Quirky occurring in the future?
D.H.: I’d like to see us continue with them. We have had alumni working at Quirky for a while. Students are also applying for internships, so that’s a way we could work to continue the relationship.

Published on February 27, 2018 at 10:26 pm

Contact Olivia: olcole@syr.edu