Idea Generation II

Alvina Salim
Nov 6 · 11 min read

HMWs

Problem statement:

  1. People who do not like messiness need a way to refill the bird feeders because bird food often comes off during the refilling process, which creates a mess
  2. Non-anti-squirrel bird feeder owners need a way to get rid of the squirrels from their bird feeder because squirrels keep on coming to steal the birds’ food, which often breaks the feeder.

HMW:

  1. How might we neatly refill food on bird feeders?
  2. How might we make bird feeders strong and durable?\

Set-Up

The brainstorming session was held at Bio-Med Library at (Diehl Hall, room 209), with a large wall for the ideas to be stuck on. This session started at 12:20 pm and ended at 1:23 pm.

The 4 participants for this session are:

Sam: a Sophomore year student from Tangerang, Indonesia, who is majoring in Animals Science. Albeit he has never tried using any birdfeeders and does not have experience in design before, he knows a little about them and has seen some of them.

Jovanka: a Junior year student from Jakarta, Indonesia, who is majoring in Finance. She does not have any experience with birdfeeders and design.

Min: a Junior year student from Korea, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He has tried using his neighbor’s birdfeeders in Korea and has lots of design experience, which one of them is design related to aerospace.

Eric: a Junior year student originally from Hongkong, majoring in Chemistry. He has neither experience with birdfeeders nor experience in design.

And, the materials used for this session are:

I used different colors of index cards for each person so that I will be able to identify each person’s ideas. However, since the total number of people in this session is 5 (including me), and I only have 4 different colors, I use the yellow-colored cards for 2 people. But, one person will draw on the blank side of the yellow card, and the other person will draw on the ruled side of the yellow index card. Everyone in the group was given markers to draw their ideas, which were to be stuck on the wall. Also, since the index cards are not sticky, I used tape so that the cards could be stuck on the wall.

Then, I use paperclips for the voting part. Each person was given 10 chances to vote, represented by 10 paperclips. To vote, each paperclip has to be clipped to an index card that has the idea that the person wants to vote.

Here is the schedule I made and how I divided the time for the session:

The total time taken for the plan I set up is supposed to be 57 minutes (3 spare minutes so that the session would be less than 1 hour). However, apparently, the total time taken for the session was 1h3min.

Time Taken for The Session

Warm-Up

The warm-up activity that I use with my brainstorming group is called “Hey!”. Here are the steps to do this warm-up:

  1. One person from the group should come up with one gesture and says “Hey!”. While saying “Hey!” and doing a gesture, this person should also make eye contact with one of the group members
  2. The member that is looked at should follow the gesture.
  3. This one member that the person made eye contact with should also come up with a new gesture and says “Hey!” while making eye contact with one person in the group
  4. The process repeats again from number 2.

I develop this warm-up because this makes people in the group to always listen to others, be ready to act, come up with a new idea quickly (in this case, new gesture), and even encourage wild ideas to be expressed. Also, most importantly, there will be no winner or loser in this warm-up activity.

Not only the “Hey!” warm-up, we also did the warm-ups that were done in the class, such as the zip zap zop and the word ball warm-ups.

Brainstorm Session

Before the brainstorming session began, I also explained some of the methods that might be useful for generating ideas, which are role storming and brute thinking. Here are the three prompts for the brainstorming session:

  1. Design any ideas on birdfeeders (10 minutes)
  2. How might we neatly refill bird food on birdfeeders? (10 minutes)
  3. How might we make birdfeeders that are strong and durable? (10 minutes)

From these prompts, I got a total of 88 ideas

After generating the ideas, we spent a minute to interpret the ideas we got on the walls, looking for trends. Then, in silence, we sorted the ideas and grouped them into where we thought they belong. This took approximately 7 minutes.

After sorting the ideas and agreed with the names of the categories we made, we started to vote the top 10 ideas we thought as interesting. I also explained that we should include: Novel, Valuable and Feasible while voting for the ideas.

Each person was given 10 paperclips. Each paperclip should be clipped on to one index card that has the idea that the person wanted to vote.

Here are the enlarged views of the votes and categories formed:

The total ideas I got for this session are 88, which makes the ideas per minute (per person) to be 88 ideas / 30 minutes = 2.93 (pp)

Here are the top 10 ideas from the session (most voted)
1) Idea by Alvina (4 votes)

This is a flower-looking feeder, meant for decorative purposes as well as attracting the birds.

2) Idea by Eric (3 votes)

This feeder looks like a greenhouse, where the birds are placed inside the “house”. Also, the material is made of clear glass.

3) Idea by Alvina (3 votes)

The “roof” of the feeder is made larger to protect the rest of the bird feeder and the bird food inside it.

4. Idea by Min (3 votes)

This is a computer-looking feeder. So, the feeder would be made out of a recycled computer case.

5) Idea by Jovanka (3 votes)

The feeder consists of a “storage” (the cylinder) and a bowl for the bird food. This is so that the food could be refilled automatically from the storage without creating a mess.

6) Idea by Sam (2 votes)

A hole is made out of the tree for the bird food to give out a nature vibe.

7) Idea by Eric (2 votes)

The feeder would look like a vending machine, where different types of food could be stored in it. The user could then choose which type of food to be released at the bottom of the feeder.

8) Idea by Jovanka (2 votes)

This feeder is connected to our mobile phones through an application, which allows us to control the feeder.

9) Idea by Jovanka (2 votes)

The top of the hourglass feeder is filled with bird food. With the force of gravity, the food is discharged to a bowl that is connected to it.

10) Idea by Alvina (2 votes)

The feeder is attached to a built-in technology so that weights that might cause the feeder to break are detected.

Top 10 Ideas

  1. A “Funnel” Feeder (User Research Blog #2)
  • The lid of the feeder could be tilted upside-down to be used as a “funnel” to make the refilling process easier and not messy.
  • There are 4 compartments so that we could fill in 4 different types of bird food (which would attract different kinds of birds).
  • There are perches for the birds to stand on while feeder.
  • The platform at the bottom of the feeder is made up of clear thin glass so that we could see the birds on it when we are underneath the feeder.
  • Material: Plastic

2. Flower Feeder (User Research #3)

  • Flower-shaped to complement the background.
  • “Petals” of the flower feeder are made up of compressed bird food so that birds could eat directly from them. Also, this means the feeder would need fewer materials.
  • The round middle part of the feeder could be fit with bird seeds.
  • The suction cap is attached at the backside of the round middle part of the feeder so that it could be stuck on glass/plastic (e.g. window).

3. Voice Command Feeder (Idea Generation I Blog #3 & #7)

  • The lid is made in such a way that it could fit a brush at the center of it
  • In the middle of the brush’s stick, a 360-degree camera is attached so that it could record the birds coming through it
  • There is a built-in google-home-like device at the bottom part of the feeder so that it could receive voice commands. The user could ask it to play music, ask about the weather, and even the type of birds that are captured by the camera).
  • A hande is found at the bottom of the feeder to ensure comfort while cleaning the feeder with a brush
  • Material: plastic

4. Glass Bench Feeder (Idea Generation I Blog #2)

  • The top part of the feeder/bench could be filled with bird food
  • The whole chair is made up of clear transparent glass so that when a person is sitting on the bench, he/she could see the birds at the top.

5. Sunflower “Pot” (Idea Generation I Blog #9)

  • A sunflower could be planted on the inner tube of the feeder. The seeds from the sunflower could then be eaten by birds of certain types
  • The outside tube could be filled by bird food and the birds could feed through the holes.
  • A large platform at the bottom of the feeder helps to hold any bird food coming off the tube so that there would be no mess
  • The feeder would be made from clear glass/plastic for aesthetic purposes

6. Adjustable Pole (User Research Blog #3)

  • The pole on which the feeder is placed could be slid up and down for easier reach to the feeder
  • The feeder could also be removed from the pole so that it could be hung

7. “Coffee Maker” Feeder (Idea Generation I Blog #8)

  • There is food storage for different types of bird food to be placed at the feeder so that the user does not have to refill the feeder as often
  • There are lots of buttons on the feeder so that the user could choose which type of food the user wants to release.

8. Solar Power Feeder (Market Research #8)

  • The “roof” of the feeder is made from a solar panel that could convert solar energy from the sun during the day, into electrical energy that could power the built-in lamp on the feeder during nighttimes.
  • The light could help the user see the birds during the dark, as well as illuminating the darkness of the night.

9. Circle Feeder (Market Research #3)

  • The feeder is made to be circle-shaped to increase the surface area available for the birds to feed on, as well as preventing the squirrels from climbing up the feeder.
  • It is made of clear glass/plastic so that the user could control the amount of food left in the feeder.
  • The different sizes of the circles are aimed for aesthetic purposes.

10. Hourglass Feeder (Idea Generation II #9)

  • The feeder is shaped like an hourglass so that it could be used as a timer while feeding the birds.
  • Holes are made at the bottom of the feeder for the birds to feed on
  • The feeder is made up of clear glass for strength and aesthetic purposes.
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