Presenter(s)
Alison E. Buck
Abstract
Woven Waste is the final product of my senior capstone, where we were challenged to fully develop a design project that aligns with our I–Design concentration. My concentration is sustainable applications, so I wanted to have a project that supports sustainable practices. Woven Waste is a craft book that instructs readers how to make crafting projects using plastic bags. This allows people to creatively and sustainably extend the life of their single-use plastic bags.
The core idea behind woven waste was to find ways to get people to upcycle, specifically with plastic bags. The process behind this project was first finding the problem that I wanted to focus on. I decided my problem that I would focus on was plastic bags because I work at a grocery store, and I would see all of the bags that would get wasted on a daily basis. People already use reusable bags, but for those who still use plastic bags, I wanted to create something that would help people to reuse them. This is where the idea of an upcycling craft book emerged.
Utilizing what I have learned from the last three years in the design program, I implemented hierarchy, iconography, and other design elements to design my book. This was also used to create my books brandings and other elements such as its YouTube channel. My creative strategy when starting this project was first to figure out the projects that would be taught within this book. I tried out different projects and found the most useful and fun projects to do, and perfected the steps to create them. When figuring out what projects to implement into the book, I wanted to make sure that they were also easy for people to execute and follow along with.
After creating the projects for this book, I then started working on the style and layout of the book. I chose colors and types that would inspire creativity as well as be slightly childish, since the target audience is younger people. With the style and layout of the book fully realized, I started by writing the book and each of the steps for the projects highlighted. I also worked on creating video tutorials as well during this process, so that the videos and tutorials were cohesive.
After finishing the videos, I posted them on the book's YouTube channel. Then, after having a fully-fledged book with a cohesive layout and five interesting tutorials, production started with me printing all of the pages and creating the hardcover, which I did by hand. Once all of these elements were produced, I wire-bound them together to create the final Woven Waste book. Woven Waste was made to help people to implement sustainable practices into their daily lives while being able to stay creative. Taking something that would otherwise end up in a landfill, you can give it a second life. This project was extremely fun to work on and taught me a lot about design and sustainable practices.
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department
Art & Design
Campus
Winona
First Advisor/Mentor
Danilo Bojic
Location
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Start Date
4-23-2026 10:00 AM
End Date
4-23-2026 11:00 AM
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Format of Presentation or Performance
In-Person
Session
1b=10am-11am
Poster Number
8
Woven Waste
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Woven Waste is the final product of my senior capstone, where we were challenged to fully develop a design project that aligns with our I–Design concentration. My concentration is sustainable applications, so I wanted to have a project that supports sustainable practices. Woven Waste is a craft book that instructs readers how to make crafting projects using plastic bags. This allows people to creatively and sustainably extend the life of their single-use plastic bags.
The core idea behind woven waste was to find ways to get people to upcycle, specifically with plastic bags. The process behind this project was first finding the problem that I wanted to focus on. I decided my problem that I would focus on was plastic bags because I work at a grocery store, and I would see all of the bags that would get wasted on a daily basis. People already use reusable bags, but for those who still use plastic bags, I wanted to create something that would help people to reuse them. This is where the idea of an upcycling craft book emerged.
Utilizing what I have learned from the last three years in the design program, I implemented hierarchy, iconography, and other design elements to design my book. This was also used to create my books brandings and other elements such as its YouTube channel. My creative strategy when starting this project was first to figure out the projects that would be taught within this book. I tried out different projects and found the most useful and fun projects to do, and perfected the steps to create them. When figuring out what projects to implement into the book, I wanted to make sure that they were also easy for people to execute and follow along with.
After creating the projects for this book, I then started working on the style and layout of the book. I chose colors and types that would inspire creativity as well as be slightly childish, since the target audience is younger people. With the style and layout of the book fully realized, I started by writing the book and each of the steps for the projects highlighted. I also worked on creating video tutorials as well during this process, so that the videos and tutorials were cohesive.
After finishing the videos, I posted them on the book's YouTube channel. Then, after having a fully-fledged book with a cohesive layout and five interesting tutorials, production started with me printing all of the pages and creating the hardcover, which I did by hand. Once all of these elements were produced, I wire-bound them together to create the final Woven Waste book. Woven Waste was made to help people to implement sustainable practices into their daily lives while being able to stay creative. Taking something that would otherwise end up in a landfill, you can give it a second life. This project was extremely fun to work on and taught me a lot about design and sustainable practices.
