How To Theme Your Projects As A Maker Bored Of “Just” Solving Problems

Many Makers get started by building solutions to their problems.

• Keys getting lost all the time? Make a Key Hook for your front door.

• Dog bed smelling up your carpet? Make a raised platform for the dog bed.

• Need more room in your garage for a workshop? Build a small shed outside to store “normal” garage items instead.

Solving problems is a real superpower to have, but there is a problem.

Just Solving Problems Constantly Is BORING

Making things with your hands is inherently creative.

I did not believe I was creative when I first started making things. I have always been considered highly logical, which doesn’t naturally lean toward creative pursuits. However, simply solving a problem with a solution I built just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore.

I needed to unleash my creativity in the solutions I was making.

What Is Your Obsession?

If you’re like me, you want to still do both: solve problems while being creative.

Ask yourself what your non-solution and non-work obsessions are. Many, myself included, gravitate to entertainment for their obsessions like Disney, Star Wars, or Lord Of The Rings. It could even be more an overall theme like sci-fi, fantasy, or dark romance (you know who you are and you should be proud).

Whatever the obsession is, go online and find some of the aesthetics that make you think about it.

Combining Themes With Solutions

With your inspiration in hand, think about the solution you’re trying to make and think about how you could infuse it with your obsession.

• Keys getting lost all the time? Make a key hook in the shape of an old-school key with a Mickey head in it.

• Dog bed smelling up your carpet? Make a raised platform bed that looks it could be on the Millennium Falcon.

• Need more room in your garage for a workshop? Build a shed in your yard that looks like Bag End.

You still need to solve your problem, but the same solution can become creative and interesting with a little theming.

Our Obsessions Bring Joy. Our Solutions Make Our Lives Easier. Themed Solutions Do Both.

Will the project take a little longer to make? Yes.

Will you have to learn some new skills to incorporate your theme? Quite possibly.

Will you be much happier with what you have made and want to show it to everyone you know? Absolutely.