When a professor assigns a project to develop and pitch a cutting edge product in the stationery business in four weeks, it’s easy to think that the challenge is impossible. After all, isn’t stationery mundane and boring?

Think again! As part of my entrepreneurship class, my team of six students developed a new stationery product, business model, and pitch. I present to you… The FlexiBinder! It’s the student’s all-in-one note taking solution!

The FlexiBinder consists of a high quality protective upholstered folder that contains room for light-weight paper inserts in graph, lined, and plain varieties, which can be added or removed depending on the student’s subjects. It combines a binder and a notebook into one, with the added bonus of being lightweight and customizable. When you fill up a booklet, just replace it with a new one and store the old one for review later. I also created a product spec sheet that outlines everything, including the economic feasibility and manufacturing specifics, in more detail.

It was a blast designing this product, but perhaps more importantly, it gave me insights into the world of physical product design. We took vague prompt, came up with an idea, and developed it into a physical prototype that I had the pleasure of creating. If this is possible in four weeks with a full courseload, imagine what’s possible when it’s a full time job! I can’t wait for next year.

Keep thinking, and happy holidays!

~Annie