The next in-class exercise involved identifying problems in everyday stapler and designing a new stapler to solve those identified problems.

Simple questions like who? What? Where? When? Why? How? helped to trigger the creative thinking of students. This exercise was in line with the status of students’ Introduction to Product Design projects, providing indirect hints but also serving to increase student's design appreciation. The significance of the assignment didn’t end there. After going through each student's identified problems and their proposed solutions, Prof. Bapat appreciated their efforts for a very limited time and with calculated words.

Some of the problems identified in the stapler were:

• Loading of pins is difficult
• No facility for storage of pins
• Size is not good for carrying; portability
• Stapled paper bunch increases in thickness
• Removal of wrongly stapled pins is not easy
• Aesthetically not appealing
• Number of remaining pins cannot be seen
• No ergonomic considerations

Without wasting further time Prof. Bapat showed students his huge collection of staplers. Students were amazed to see that the problems which they identified were already solved. Not only solved but solutions were sold in the market in the form of new products i.e. staplers. Stapler with an additional pin storing facility, stapler that can operate with minimum effort, stapler that can even staple a pin in the middle of an A4 page, stapler for woodworking, stapler for medical application, smallest stapler, stapler that can stand on its back instead of resting on its faces so that it’s easier to lift – were some of the highlights of the big collection.