Allison Nagy, Winner of the October Design Challenge Series
Allison Nagy took home the win for this month-long competition where students develop solutions to real world problems at the Garage.
The Design Challenge Series is a team based event where participants will take on exciting design prompts to design and develop creative solutions. New challenges are released every month for students to complete. At the end of the month, a group of judges determines which design will take home the prize — NC State Entrepreneurship swag!
Meet the Winner
When Allison Nagy, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering at the College of Engineering, first heard about the October Design Challenge she instantly had an idea. Knowing that women’s clothing pockets have been a real problem for a long time, she knew exactly what she needed to do in order to create a solution. This is how the Simple Pocket was created.
The Simple Pocket was made to solve the problem of women’s clothing not including pockets large enough to fit a cell phone. The design is made to clip onto the waistband of any pants or skirt and sit on the hip of the user to allow for easy access. The design is also much safer than if a woman were to use their back pocket as it is securely attached and put in place where the arm naturally falls over it to create an extra layer of protection.
In order to create her design, Allison used one of the sewing machines at the Garage. While she had used a sewing machine before, this was her first time with an automatic machine so she had to overcome a learning curve. In overcoming this learning curve, one of Allison’s favorite aspects of the Entrepreneurship Garage was having the co-working and prototyping spaces so close to each other. It allowed her to easily move between designing and prototyping so that her idea could come to life.
I would encourage other students to partake in the Design Challenge Series because it is a great way to get your creative juices flowing.
After her win, Allison reflected on why her experience in the Design Challenge Series was influential. She said, “I would encourage other students to partake in the Design Challenge Series because it is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. It can sometimes be hard to come up with a new idea that is useful to others, but the problem prompts help you get started and work through roadblocks.”
Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of the next Design Challenge. Applications are due January 28, 2022!
