In designing Garfield's Soda case, I had to do two major things: One, utilize and improve upon my skill at working cardboard, and two, think of new methods for joining materials without glue, tape, staples, or other fasteners. Although I think the former is absolutely necessary for engineers to be able to do, I believe the latter is what makes the difference between an answer-finding engineer, and a true innovator. To be able to think in radical new ways, and develop workable solutions for problems is one of the things that I strive most for in my education and in life. I think this project provided a fine opportunity to do this.

One of the most important things I learned from this project is that it is often more efficient to try to fix your design, than to try to re-design and build an entire new contraption. My original design broke in testing, but it did not break entirely, and I was able to fix it with woven pieces, and save myself at least 2 hours of work.