National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology student Chou Tsai-wei took inspiration from her life off campus to design bags with a simple notch design that instantly corrects one disadvantage of currently available trash bags, namely that the static electricity effect makes them hard to open. Chou’s design reached the final selection list in the 2015 Taiwan International Student Design Competition (TISDC).
Chou, who is in her junior year in university, lives off campus and has to do everything for herself. She is in the habit of going to the supermarket to buy small rolls of plastic bags that she tears off and uses to line her trash can, but she found that currently available plastic bags are very inconvenient to use because you have to rub the opening of the bag for a while to open it up, and sometimes you find yourself trying to open the wrong end.
One day Chou was looking at the document folder that she was holding and observed that the thumb-notch design principle of L folders could be applied to trash bags by cutting a corner out of one of the two faces of a plastic bag and sticking an identifying label on that side. This simple change makes it possible to open the bag as soon as you tear it off the roll. Chou’s classmates found the bags easy to use, and her tutor also praised her design, saying: “Creativity comes from life. The point of a design is that consumers should be happy to use it, and that it should resolve life’s little inconveniences.”
Photo copied by Chen Yu- Cheng, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者陳祐誠翻攝
Chou’s design emerged as a finalist in the TISDC after competing with nearly 8,000 entries from 46 countries. Although in the end it was not one of the prizewinners, Chou says that her project inspired her to think again about how a simple change can give people a pleasant surprise in life.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
高雄第一科大學生周彩葳從外宿生活中得到靈感，在袋口上做個簡單的缺口設計，立刻改善市面上垃圾袋因靜電作用不易打開的缺點，入圍二○一五台灣國際學生創意設計大賽。
今年大三的周彩葳，外宿生活一切靠自己，她習慣到超市購買小綑的塑膠袋，拆開套在垃圾桶，但她發現市面上的塑膠袋用起來非常不便，必須搓揉袋口一陣子才能打開，有時還會找錯邊。
某日周彩葳看著手上的資料夾，發覺Ｌ形資料夾的缺口設計原理可以運用在垃圾袋上，而動手在塑膠袋口其中一面剪下一片斜角，再貼上方便辨識的提醒。簡單改造後，塑膠袋一撕就開，不但同學用得順手，指導老師也稱讚：「創意來自於生活，設計就是要讓消費者使用開心，解決生活不便。」
該作品入圍台灣舉辦的國際比賽，與四十六個國家近八千件作品競逐獎項。雖然最後沒有得名，但周彩葳說，作品讓自己重新思考，一個平凡的改變就能讓生活帶來驚喜。
（自由時報記者陳祐誠）
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