Concept Generation

Review

Creativity/Brainstorming

Creativity is a divergent thinking skill in which we postpone judgment and try to see a situation from as many different perspectives as possible.

Brainstorming is a term used for the creative generation of many ideas.

Why Do It?

• Creativity and brainstorming can be applied in many situations. Certainly important at the beginning of the design process, it can also be applied to any form of problem solving. It is particularly helpful in getting “unstuck” when your problem solving bogs down.

Brainstorming Practice

• Postpone judgment• Generate as many ideas as possible in a

constrained time• Use “triggers”

TriggersTools to bump yourself out of mental ruts.

• Other’s Shoes – Reconsider the problem from the perspective of a plumber, civil engineer, physician, child, attorney, basketball player, etc. You can keep this close to your personal comfort level by picking roles you know something about, like plumber perhaps, and then expand to more fanciful ones, like princess.

• Nature – How does nature deal with this issue, or how would you do it if you were Mother Nature?• Opposite – How would you solve the opposite problem (from “cut down a tree” to “grow a tree”)? Or, consider

the opposite of some of your ideas (from “cut with a saw” to join with “hot glue”).• Random – Use random words, pictures, movie titles, professor names to generate more ideas.• Analogy – Consider what has similar function but different appearance (automatic clothes washer to

washboard), what has similar appearance but different function (washboard to cheese grater), or what has a similar name and different use (bottle cap to baseball cap)?

• Craziest Idea – take the craziest idea and try use the kernel to get to a practical solution (“Cut down a tree with scissors” to “cut with large hydraulic shears”).

• Boundaries/Constraints – Remove, adjust, or explore the boundaries of the problem. (If the problem is a better way to wash clothes, what about recycling the old shirt into a new shirt instead of washing? Does it have to be “wash” or can it be “clean” or “deodorize”?)

• Anthropomorphize – Consider yourself to be the piece of equipment or process. Or consider yourself a molecule flowing through the system. (For “Why is this part failing?” think- “Am I getting hot anywhere, where do I feel the stress?”)

• Combine – Take different ideas and see what happens if you add them together, or combine them in some other way (Problem: “wash clothes” – combine “spray with a hose” and “pound on a rock” to “spray with wet rocks”)

Triggers cont’d

• Other’s Shoes – Reconsider the problem from the perspective of a plumber, civil engineer, physician, child, attorney, basketball player, etc. You can keep this close to your personal comfort level by picking roles you know something about, like plumber perhaps, and then expand to more fanciful ones, like princess.

• Nature – How does nature deal with this issue, or how would you do it if you were Mother Nature?

• Opposite – How would you solve the opposite problem (from “cut down a tree” to “grow a tree”)? Or, consider the opposite of some of your ideas (from “cut with a saw” to join with “hot glue”).

Triggers cont’d

• Random – Use random words, pictures, movie titles, professor names to generate more ideas.

• Analogy – Consider what has similar function but different appearance (automatic clothes washer to washboard), what has similar appearance but different function (washboard to cheese grater), or what has a similar name and different use (bottle cap to baseball cap)?

• Craziest Idea – take the craziest idea and try use the kernel to get to a practical solution (“Cut down a tree with scissors” to “cut with large hydraulic shears”).

Triggers cont’d• Boundaries/Constraints – Remove, adjust, or explore the

boundaries of the problem. (If the problem is a better way to wash clothes, what about recycling the old shirt into a new shirt instead of washing? Does it have to be “wash” or can it be “clean” or “deodorize”?)

• Anthropomorphize – Consider yourself to be the piece of equipment or process. Or consider yourself a molecule flowing through the system. (For “Why is this part failing?” think- “Am I getting hot anywhere, where do I feel the stress?”)

• Combine – Take different ideas and see what happens if you add them together, or combine them in some other way (Problem: “wash clothes” – combine “spray with a hose” and “pound on a rock” to “spray with wet rocks”)

Practice Time

• This period and the next we will be having an on the spot design competition.

• Today you will design. • Next period you will build.• Today we will brainstorm on the use of the

materials available for the design and on the design itself.

Materials for the Design

• One penny• 4 rubber bands• 6 - 3x5 cards• 3 drinking straws• 1 foot masking tape• 1 plastic spoon• 2 craft sticks• 2 paper clips

In groups of 2 to 4 write down (person with highest index finger to ring finger ratio is the scribe) as many uses of one of these materials as you can in 2 minutes.

Materials for the Design

Design Task

To deliver a penny as close as possible to a destination point that is a distance of 20 inches from the starting line.

Rules• The target will consist of one inch wide concentric rings surrounding a two

inch diameter “bulls-eye” on a sheet of paper taped to a classroom table.• The starting line will consist of a strip of masking tape whose edge is 20

inches from the center of the target.• The apparatus must have a footprint no larger than one square foot and

must initially all be located behind the front edge of the starting line.• Attachment of the apparatus to the table can only be made by masking

tape.• Energy can be stored in the issued materials prior to the activation of the

device (e.g. rubber bands can be stretched/twisted).• The apparatus must be free standing without human intervention for 2

seconds prior to triggering• After the apparatus is assembled and located, human force or energy can

only be used to activate or trigger the device (e.g. release a weight, pull a pin, cut/remove tape, …); and cannot be used as motive force for the penny.

Task

• Brainstorm on solutions• Consider functions• Sketch out possible solutions