Idea Generation — part 2

Jiwon Hong (Flora)
Nov 5 · 4 min read

HMWs

These are my previous problem statements that I generated for Blog post 3. And for the problem statements, I changed them into How Might We? statements.

  • Yunjae needs a way to prevent smell as there are bugs occurring during hot months. He wants the lid that can open softly and has easy access.

How might we prevent the smell from the trash bin?

  • Yuan needs a way to keep the trash bin clean in both function and aesthetic way. He prefers materials of a trash bin to be metal rather than plastic as metal is easy to clean and does not change the color from the trash.

How might we keep the trash bin clean?

  • Sang needs a way to prevent the trash from his dog messing up so he needs a convenient lid that can both cover the trash bin and comfortable to open.

How might we create the trash bin that has better functionality? (less noise and convenient lid)

Set Up

Here are my four participants and the background information:

  • Chloe → Majoring in business management in Carlson school at the University of Minnesota.
  • Grace → Attends the University of Minnesota majoring in chemistry.
  • Insoo Kim → Currently a third-year student at the University of Minnesota majoring in communication.
  • Yunjae Yoon → Freshman at the University of Minnesota and plans to major in psychology.

The session was held at Magrath Library and it took an hour- long.

For the first 15 minutes, we did warm up grames called, “Zip Zap Zop” and “Story Spine”.

For the 10 minutes, we generated any ideas related to the trash bin.

For the 15 minutes, we spent time in each of the HMW statements. We spent 5 minutes on each of the statements.

For 10 minutes, we generate the worst idea possible

For the last 10 minutes, we divided the section and picked the top ideas.

Warm-Up

Zip Zap Zop

→ being ready to act

For the warm-up games, we did games called“Zip, Zap, Zop” and “Story Spine”.

For the “Zip, Zap, Zop”, this game is about focus and energy. As students pass the energy across the circle (in the form of a Zip, Zap, or Zop), our group makes eye contact with the person they send the energy to and work together to keep the rhythm going.

For the “Story Spine”, this game is an idea/tool about the spine of any story. The whole point of the tool is to provide a model for a well-constructed story with a beginning that establishes a routine, an event that breaks the routine, a middle that shows the consequences of having broken the routine, a climax that sets the resolution to the story in motion, and the resolution.

Brainstorm Session

using progressive revelation, start by framing your idea generation prompt to be any ideas related to your product topic.

Theme

  • 10 minutes → any idea related to kitchen trash bin
  • 10 minutes → spend time in each of HMW statements.
  • 10 minutes → worst idea possible (fun ideas)

We generate and present each of our ideas to the group members. It was fun to listen to the ideas of others.

Totally, our group members generated 86 ideas.

Grace →19

Chloe → 19

Insoo → 25

Yunjae →23

\

According to the idea generated, I divided the sections and our group members pick top ideas they like. Overall, I ran out of ideas with the trash bin but in a group brainstorming session, there were a lot of new great ideas generated and the last time for worse idea generation was really fun and interesting. I got a lot of motivation from there.

Top 10 ideas

Timeline

Thursday, Oct 31: Finalize a brainstorm day.

Friday, Nov 1: nothing

Saturday Nov 2: Brainstorm Session

Sunday Nov 3: Start Blog Post

Monday Nov 4: Upload All pictures.

Tuesday Nov 5: Pick the top 10 and sketch them.

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