Idea Generation part 2

Jenna Stellmack
Nov 3 · 6 min read

HMWs

My How Might We statements were based on my user research, which indicated that people wanted mopping to be more enjoyable and eco-friendly.

I tried to create statements that reflected these ideas while still being vague enough not to stifle interesting ideas. The statements I came up with were as follows:

  • How might we make cleaning more enjoyable?
  • How might we make cleaning more eco-friendly?

I decided not to use the word “floors” in my statements, because I wanted to keep ideas broad. Maybe other ideas would surface that could be applied to floor cleaning.


Set Up

My brainstorming session took place at my house on Friday, November first.

Since I bribed most of the participants with food, the session took place in my kitchen, where we ate lots of snacks and talked about lots of mops.

The session was approximately 50 minutes long, divided into ten-minute sections: one for the warm ups, one for general idea brainstorming, one for each HMW statement, and one for sorting and voting.

The materials used were quarter sheets of copy paper and Crayola markers.

The warm ups we did were my original activity, described in the next section, and Zip Zap Zop.


Warm Up

I based my warm up on some of the other warm ups we did in class involving storytelling. Mine, though, added a random element.

I write a lot, and one of the tools I use when I have writer’s block is a random word generator. I decided to use this as part of my warm up game.

First, a random sentence generator is used as a starting point for the story. Then each person gets a randomly generated word, which they must use to complete the story.

The randomly generated sentence that was used during the session was:

The participants had fun thinking up silly ways to finish the story with words like “leash” and “participate.”


Brainstorm Session

The session started with warm up games. Everyone gathered already knew each other, so there was no need for introductions.

Chloe and Charlie listen to Irene’s story during the warm ups.

Then, the idea generation began. I started by framing the prompt as “any mop ideas” and the ideas flowed from there.

Next, we moved on to my first HMW statement: “how might we make cleaning more enjoyable?”

The ideas here ranged from intriguing to silly, unsurprisingly.

Finally, the group brainstormed environmentally friendly solutions, which led to a wide range of creative options.

Before sorting, the results looked like this:

Then, the group sorted them into piles based on similarities between ideas.

Some of the categories were as follows:

  • Red: mops that absorb external things
  • Orange: funny ideas
  • Yellow: miscellaneous mops
  • Green: strangely shaped mops
  • Light blue: “humanoid” mops
  • Dark blue: natural mops
  • Magenta: hair-like mops

Finally, the group voted for their favorite ideas. Votes fell into two categories: creativity (green) and feasibility/usefulness (yellow).

The idea with the most stickers, somewhat tragically, was Charlie’s “j*n mop”:

It was difficult, but I managed to weed the 100+ ideas created by the group down to some of the most interesting ideas:

Charlie = green, Claire = purple, Chloe = blue, Irene = red

And, of course, some of the most amusing ones:

The group thought of 110 ideas in 30 minutes. The IPM for the entire group was ~3.667; broken down, it was approximately 1 idea per person per minute.


Top 10 Ideas

There were an incredible amount of ideas to choose from. I tried to choose a variety of mops, from more practical/feasible ideas to creative/fun options. I managed to narrow them down to the following ten ideas:

Mop slippers

Mops in the shape of slippers that make cleaning simpler and more enjoyable

Rug mop

A rug that can be tossed over a mess and picked up later when the floor is clean

Self-cleaning mop

A mop that rotates against a blade-like apparatus, which scrapes off excess debris

RC mop

A mop controlled via remote control

Programmable/“Roomba” mop

A mop that cleans without external intervention

Self-building mop

Once this mop gets too dirty, material can be sprayed over the dirty part to lock it in and provide a new cleaning surface

Vibrating mop

Vibrating bristles, similar to a vibrating toothbrush, provide extra cleaning power without harsh chemicals

Hockey mop

The “puck” is a mop — a fun game for the whole family

Freddie Mercury mop

Embrace your inner Cinderella by singing while you clean

Fluff board

A mop in the shape of a skateboard for super sliding fun


Timeline

10/31: Finish HMWs, set up, warm up

11/1: Brainstorming session!

11/3: Finish compiling pictures, ideas, etc. from brainstorming session

11/5: Finish choosing and sketching top 10 ideas

11/6: Finalize and publish blog

    Jenna Stellmack

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