Idea Generation Number II

Gabriella Amini
Nov 4 · 12 min read

Timeline

10/31: Craft out how might we statements. Begin ideating tactics to include within the brainstorming session (games and process)

11/1: Day off

11/2: Determine set up for brainstorming and write it out in blog

11/3: Type up my warm up idea for brainstorming

11/4: Conduct brainstorming session

11/5: Choose and begin to sketch top 10 ideas

11/6: Finalize top 10 ideas and edit blog post before 10 PM

How Might We Statements

Problem/Opportunity Statements

From the User Research portion of the project, I came up with the following problem statements regarding the three individuals interviewed:

  1. 24, single mother of one needs a better, less breakable way to dispose of her baby’s diapers because she usually walks them out to the garbage when she could save time throwing them in a pail.
  2. 28, married mother of one needs a safe and sturdy way to hold her baby’s diapers for the day, while still looking cute in her aesthetically pleasing bedroom because she is afraid of the safety precautions that come with another tall object in her baby’s bedroom.
  3. 28, married mother of one needs a way to deodorize the stench coming from inside her diaper pail because she finds that the stench tends to cling to its plastic material.
  4. 21, college mother of one needs a way to use her reusable diapers on the go because there is currently no easy and sanitary way to travel with those dirty, cotton diapers.

How Might We…

Using the problem statements, we were instructed to come up with two how might we statements that would be used in the brainstorming session. The statements had to be broad enough to not limit new ideas and alternatives, but specific enough to still solve the problems that needed to be solved. I found it difficult to keep myself open minded, but was able to come up with the following:

  1. How might we design a durable, sanitary, and odor locking device for parents that can hold their baby’s waste.
  2. How might we create an eco friendly way for parents to better collect and dispose of their baby’s waste.

Set Up

Participants:

  1. Riley is a 21 year old senior studying Biochemistry and Sustainability at the University of Minnesota on a pre-dental track. Riley is involved with Greek Life, as well as volunteers at a dental clinic. Riley is very committed to education, always putting the most energy in this work, while still saving time for friends on the weekend.
  2. Carly is a 20 year old junior studying Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance at the University of Minnesota, hoping to be involved with criminal justice in her post grad career. Carly works as a bartender and is excited about studying abroad next semester in Barcelona.
  3. Jordan is a 22 year old senior studying Spanish and English at the University of Minnesota, graduating this December. Jordan is beginning a career in Real Estate in early January and can’t wait to move home to Milwaukee to begin her career.
  4. Sam is a 21 year old junior studying Marketing and Management at the University of Minnesota, hoping to pursue a career in non-profit marketing. Sam spends her summers working at a camp up north Wisconsin, where she has earned many leadership roles.

Set Up of the Session:

  1. Dopamine Increase: Provide the participants with avocado, feta, black pepper, and salt on toast, as well as a small cup of coffee with almond milk.
  2. Instructor Taught Improv Warmup : Use the story spine game to begin creative flow of juices, taught by improv coaches. Play for a total of two rounds.
  3. Original Improv Warmup: Play Color Me Crazy in order to get participants used to drawing quickly, using clear instructions and guidance. Play for a total of three rounds.
  4. Rules of the Session: Defer from judgement, build off of other’s ideas, go for quantity, draw big and bold for all to see, be quick and clear, use labels and titles, hold up the idea for all to see and give a brief pitch, repeat.
  5. Introduction: Introducing the project of the diaper pail to participants to inform them of what it’s all about. Give participants 10 minutes to ideate and sketch ideas based on this information about the diaper pail.
  6. How Might We… 1: Present the problem using the first “How Might We” statement. How might we design a durable, sanitary, and odor locking device for parents that can hold their baby’s waste. Give participants 10 minutes to ideate and sketch ideas for statement 1.
  7. How Might We… 2: Interrupt and present the problem using the second “How Might We” statement. How might we create an eco friendly way for parents to better collect and dispose of their baby’s waste. Give participants 10 minutes to ideate and sketch ideas for statement 2.
  8. Negative Think: Tell participants to think of negative ways to solve the two “How Might We” statements.Give participants 5 minutes to ideate and sketch ideas for negative thinking.
  9. Sort: Instruct the participants to organize their ideas in any fashion they choose.
  10. Multi-Vote: Instruct the participants to vote on their top 15 ideas to determine the top 10 of the group.

Warm Up

Materials: Four Participants

  • 40 colored pencils: 4 sets, 10 shades each per person
  • 12 index cards: 4 sets of cards with same line pattern, 3 cards per person

Instructions: Color Me Crazy

  • Each participant is given a set of colored pencils in either the shade ranges of purple-pink, red-orange, light blue-black, green-yellow.
  • Each participant is then handed a white index card with the same set of abstract lines on each.
  • Participants are instructed to create a picture on the index card inspired from the colors they were given as well as the bold lines.
  • The participants are given 2 minutes to create whatever they choose.
  • When the time is up, everyone must put their colors down and shares what they created.
  • Round Two: Pass colors to the right and time is shortened from 2 minutes to 1 minute and 30 seconds.
  • Round Three: Pass colors to the right once more and time is shortened from 1 minute and 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  • Repeat for as long as you wish!

Brainstorm Session

Step 1: Dopamine Increase

After each individual went around the room and introduced themselves, I decided to start by giving each participant a dopamine increasing snack. During the course of lecture, Barry had explained how certain foods have high levels of dopamine, which is proven to help activate and awaken the brain. I wanted to really thank them for participating in this event as well, so I gave each person a slice of toast, topped with avocado, feta, black pepper, and salt. Avocado and dairy are proven to have high levels of dopamine. The toast used was whole grain, full of nuts and seeds, which also help support healthy brain functions. On top of that, a glass of almond milk with a splash of coffee was given. The almonds in the milks are great for ideation, as well as the energy boost given in coffee.

Step 2: Instructor Taught Improv Warmup

To begin the ideation process, I thought it would be best to begin with an improv game that almost all are familiar with, story spine. We each went around the circle saying one word at a time, beginning each new story with “Once upon a time…” in order to create limitless opportunities to the character. We ended each story with what the character learned, bringing it full circle. This really loosened up the participants, having them enjoy the game and truly commit to such wacky stories. We played the game for a total of two times, each story lasting about 2 minutes.

Step 3: Original Improv Warmup

For our second and final warmup game, our instructor pushed us to come up with a completely new and innovative idea, mine being titled Color Me Crazy. As explained in the Warm Up section of this blog post, each participant was given an array of colored pencils and three note cards containing different abstract lines. For the first round, participants were told to create a picture inspired from the abstract lines and their color range in under two minutes. The room got very quiet during this process, as everyone was extremely focussed on their image. When time was up, each participant went around the room and explained their picture. There were no winners and this was all simply to motivate us to think creatively. The second round, everyone switched colors and the time decreased to 1 minute and 30 seconds. The third round, participant switch colors once more and time was decreased further to 1 minute. The participants enjoyed the game and kicked off the session on a good note.

Step 4: Rules of the Session

As stated in our lectures, it is so important to explain the “rules” of brainstorming before the session begins. I began by explaining how important it is to not judge one another’s ideas as nothing would be considered wrong, how everyone everyone is encouraged to build off of and expand one another’s ideas as there may be something missing, and how everyone should not worry about the quality of their ideas and images, but simply the quantity.

Everyone had a set of sticky notes (orange for Carly, pink for Riley, green for Sam, and blue for Jordan) as well as a sharpie. I told them that after explaining the rest of the rules, they will be given a new prompt every 10 minutes explaining what ideas they should be coming with on the sticky notes. After the prompt would be read, participants would have 10 minutes to write down as many ideas as they could possibly think of. Every note had to be big and bold so the entire group to see, as well as labeled with titles and any necessary arrows. After completing the idea, the participant would give a 5 second pitch regarding their product while holding it up so everyone to see, then proceed to hand it to me to hang on the wall. We would repeat this process until the idea generation was over.

Step 5: Introduction

For the first round of ideation, I began by explaining what I had been working on all semester. Having my product be the diaper pail, I went over both the negatives and the positives from parents I found common within my research. I explained that a diaper pail is a trashcan-like container used by parents to hold their baby’s diapers. The container is usually made of a sturdy material like plastic or stainless steel. It’s functions always include some sort of odor locking technology, as well as sometimes aesthetic appeal, hands-free, easy bagging system, etc. No matter the brand of diaper pail, the main purpose of the container is to hold the odor of soiled diapers so the parent can simply change their child in the nursery without having to run out to the garbage after every mess.

With that said, I told the participants they then had 10 minutes to come up with as many ideas possible as to ways to improve the diaper pail. It was a little confusing for them in the first minute, but after one idea was up on the wall, the rest came spewing out.

After 10 minutes, my participants were able to come up with a total of 40 ideas.

Step 6: How Might We… 1

For the next part of brainstorming, I explained how there is a problem that needs to be solved. The problem is how might we design a durable, sanitary, and odor locking device for parents that can hold their baby’s waste.

Again, I gave my participants another 10 minutes to come up with as many ideas as they could.

After another 10 minutes, my participants managed to come up 78 total ideas.

Step 7: How Might We… 2

Yet again, I explained how there is an additional problem that must be solved. The problem changed to how might we create an eco friendly way for parents to better collect and dispose of their baby’s waste.

Participants were given another 10 minutes to come up with as many ideas possible.

After an additional 10 minutes, my participants managed to create 101 total ideas.

Step 8: Negative Think

For the last portion of my ideation session, I then told my participants to think back to all of the three portions we went over (introduction and two HMW statements). I expressed that sometimes by thinking negatively or reversing the problem, many ideas that seem bad can really end up being good. I told them to spend one minute thinking about each problem from an opposite perspective, such as how can we make a diaper pail more smelly or how can we make a diaper pail uglier.

I gave my participants 5 minutes to come up with as many “bad” ideas as they could.

At the end of 35 total minutes in ideation:

  • Orange: 34 total ideas = 0.97 ideas/min
  • Pink: 29 Ideas = 0.83 ideas/min
  • Green: 29 Ideas = 0.83 ideas/min
  • Blue: 34 Ideas = 0.97 ideas/min

4 People, 35 Minutes = 126 Total Ideas

IPM for entire group = 3.6 ideas/min

Step 9: Sort

The next step of the brainstorming process was to instruct participants to organize and categorize their ideas into any fashion they choose in under 5 minutes. I gave them some support by telling them to look for trends or common themes, as well as different ways the ideas interpreted the message. Participants were not allowed to speak during the process as this can often sway individuals one way or another.

When the five minutes was up, the group was allowed to speak and finalize their categories for just one minute. Below are the 9 categories the group came up with.

Step 10: Multi-Vote

After completing the sorting and categorizing process of the project, the participants were instructed to vote for their top 15 ideas. There was no true criteria, other than telling them vote for what they honestly thought was the best ideas based off of creativity, innovation, and if the idea is somewhat realistic. Each individual was given 15 pieces of black tape to put on their favorite ideas.

Unfortunately, there were a few ties near the bottom of what received votes, so I decided to include the groups top 11 choices. The ideas on green post it notes came from Sam and the pink post it notes came from Riley. I found it extremely interesting that even though Sam and Riley came up with fewer votes than Carly and Jordan, they happened to be the individuals with the best ideas.

Top Ideas

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade