idea generation part 2

Ben Scambler
Nov 7 · 4 min read

Timeline:

Thursday, 10/31/19: Make the HMW statements.

Friday, 11/1/19: Describe the set up

Saturday, 11/2/19: Develop warm up activity.

Sunday, 11/3/19: Host brainstorming session.

Monday, 11/4/19: Write up blog post and work on new ideas.

Tuesday, 11/5/19: Write up blog post and work on new ideas.

Thursday, 11/7/19: Present assignment and do peer reviews.

HMW Statements:

Based on my third blog post, I created these How Might We Statements.

  1. How might we attract birds to human areas?
  2. How might we attract birds without attracting squirrels?

Set Up:

My participants were my friends and fellow Sanford 3rd floor residents Derek, Yash, Carlos, Adam, and Erin. I lured them into a study lounge with Mesa Pizza.

Pizza as bait with Adam in the background
Carlos MUNCH
Erin done with my BS
Yash
Derek

After baiting them with pizza, we warmed up for 10 minutes, brainstormed for 30 minutes, and spent 20 minutes sorting and favoriting ideas.

Warm up Activity:

For our warm-up we played a game that I made up called Needs More JPEG, where one person draws a card and must do a charade of that card, and then the next person guesses what their charade was and tells it to a third player who must do a charade of the word that the second player told them. By the time we got around the circle, the actions had completely changed. We also played Whiskey Mixer.

Brainstorming:

I directed the brainstorming in a similar way as we did it in class, with everyone writing down and drawing ideas and presenting them before adding them to the pool. However, I had trouble motivating my group to be as prolific as my group had been in class, and I have a couple of ideas why. First, maybe I should have used the pizza as a reward for completing the activity instead of having pizza from the beginning. Second, maybe I should have done it during the day because we were having a pretty low-energy evening. Third, I could have played upbeat background music. First I asked them to generate ideas related to attracting birds. Then I added the twist of deterring squirrels. The best ideas came from the second period. Finally, we sorted and favorited ideas.

Brainstorming results:

In total, we had 87 ideas, with an ipm of 4.35. Carlos had the highest quantity of ideas, even though many of his were nonsensical.

After silently sorting the ideas we had 4 categories; incorporating other animals, using other senses to attract birds, new forms for bird feeders, and nonsense ideas.

I told people to vote 5 times for their favorite ideas, and people voted for widely varied ideas, with only 5 ideas garnering more than one vote.

A bird feeder that makes birdsong when wind blows through it.

A bird feeder that attracts birds by diffusing smells.

Bird seed that is toxic to squirrels.

A bird feeder with hemispheres above and below it to deter squirrels.

A sniper posted nearby to kill squirrels. (nonsense idea)

New Ideas with sketches:

For my sketches, I incorporated ideas from my brainstorming session and from my previous assignments.

    Ben Scambler

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