These are some photos from a team project that my team had done for Austin Pets Alive (APA). We worked on a coin collector design for donations.
For our spring 2022 semester team project, we worked with Austin Pets Alive to create and design items used to promote and support them. My team and I decided on a Plinko-like coin collection design for people to donate physical money, and we also added a QR code banner that takes people to a donation link with information about how much money can support their cause. This way, people who can donate physical money could have an interactive experience with their donation, enticing them to donate more coins.
When we designed the coin collector, we initially thought about using paths so that the coins could follow a path on the way down into the drop box. Our coin collector was first designed on TinkerCAD, and we decided to use wood and acrylic as our main materials. We first made the frame out of wood and painted it white. At the bottom of the frame was our drop box, which was where all of the coins landed. It contained a latch for people to gather all of the coins that were donated. Then we painted on our puppy path design. The purpose of our puppy path design was to give an idea of what cause donors would be supporting. This was successful as people would be able to put the coins into our design and the coins would end up bouncing around in our design until it dropped into the collection box at the bottom. For the people who did not carry any physical money on them, we designed a banner with a QR code that sends them to the Austin Pets Alive donation link for them to donate money. The QR code banner was put on to the coin collector last, and it also told them how each donation adds up and how the money is used to support the animals in the shelter. This was designed on Canva, printed on poster board, and laminated.
This ended up being a success, and I really liked how it turned out. When we showcased it at the spring showcase, people liked watching the coins bounce around in the paths and drop into our collection box. I think the visual aspect of having the coins interact with the acrylic and bounce off of it was gratifying to watch to the point where people would put in more coins just to see where how different of a path it would take. I also think that one of the issues with our design was access and time. We all had busy schedules and could not access everyone at once until the maker meetings when we all worked on our design together. When it comes to working with other makers, we are also working with humans. This design was a nostalgic project as our coin collector reminded us of Plinko machines at events and coin machines from our childhood. Since humans have experiences, making can be a way for people to create new experiences to connect with one another to bring out joy. This also applies to making in the classroom. Making is a way for students to become students highly engaged in the content and come up with ways to impact their community. Every community can always use new ideas to get people more involved and support one another. It's just a matter of getting people to have access to their resources and provide scaffolding for them to get involved.
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