The Little Things no.1

When you enter a space, everything about that environment combines to shape your perceptions and feelings. From big architectural details (does the space have windows and natural light?) to the people (Who's in the space?) to the sensory (is it loud? quiet? does it smell weird?) to the smaller details (a playful decoration, dusty shelves, the welcome sign).

It all matters, but this post (and the rest of the upcoming posts in this series) is dedicated to some of the small details, small organizational shifts and design tweaks that have made me happier with how the Makerspaces I've worked in feel.

The file cabinet cover

This open face of the file cabinet is pretty open and visible in the space. The items inside of the file cabinet aren't things that I need or want people to have access to. It also looks a little cluttered and messy.

I sketched a design in Procreate & adjusted in Illustrator, then laser cut this design out of a large scrap piece of cardboard. I had some extra decorative paper that I glued behind the cardboard. In a perfect world I'd use nicer materials, but in this world I have a limited budget. Plus, I like to use scraps and upcycled materials when I can.

The cardboard cover has a scrappy hinge attachment at the top edge so that it can be lifted up to access the items within.

The Prototyping Shelf

When I started my job in this Makerspace, this large rolling shelf was tucked off to the side. It was covered in dirt, dust, resin, and miscellaneous garbage. At first, I was inclined to try and get rid of it because of the somewhat rough shape it was in. But I decided to try to give it a new life instead.

I emphasize recycled and upcycled materials in this space, and the shelf ended up being the perfect place to store, display, and make accessible materials like cardboard, scraps, plastic containers, as well as other construction materials like LEGO, Strawbees, etc.

Organizational bins and containers are expensive! I ended up laser cutting and taping together some (semi stable) boxes to house all of the supplies using the "Stackable Bin" tool from this site- https://boxes.hackerspace-bamberg.de/?language=en

A cluttered file cabinet is hidden with funky laser cut art and a worn down shelf becomes a fun material supply station. Little things, but they make a difference.