Idea Generation Part 2
How Might We’s:
Opportunity Statements from “User Research”:
(1) Drivers that like to travel to places unknown need a safe way to navigate because looking down from their field of vision is dangerous.
(2) Drivers that live in varying climates, such as Minnesota, need a reliable and strong way to use their phone in their car because extreme temperatures can impact how well adhesive and connection methods work.
(3) Drivers need a universal way to add features to their car because the layout of each car is very different.
Drafted How Might We Statements:
From (1): How might travelers more safely navigate to new places?
From (2): How might things be attached securely in extreme temperatures?
From (2): How much phones be attached securely in a car in extreme temperatures?
From (3): How might drivers add new features to their car no matter the layout of the interior?
How Might We Statements and the Brainstorming Session:
While all of the How Might We statements were drafted for the brainstorming session, two were originally chosen to use in the brainstorming session: How might travelers more safely navigate to new places? and How might drivers add new features to their car no matter the layout of the interior?. However, the latter prompt proved to cause instant confusion in the participants and was quickly replaced by How might things be attached securely in extreme temperatures?.
Final How Might We Statements Used in Brainstorming Session:
How might travelers more safely navigate to new places?
How might things be attached securely in extreme temperatures?
Set Up:
Prior to holding the brainstorming session, a rough plan for the hour was written out in blue pen. Then, during the session on the same plan sheet, a red pen was used to record the details of the session in terms of time and order of the different parts of the session.
Timeline of the session:
- Participants filled out demographic info with their marker color for the session (1:00 min)
- Went over the plan for the hour (1:00 min)
- Warm Up Activity 1: Word Ball — Association (1:00 min)
- Warm Up Activity 2: Word Ball — Non-association (1:00 min)
- Warm Up Activity 3: Story Telling One Word at a Time (3:00 min)
- Warm Up Activity 4: Letter Drawing (3:00 min)
- Went over ground rules: defer judgement, share every idea, every idea needs a drawing and a description (1:00 min)
- Brainstorming: Come up with any ideas related to car phone mounts (10:30 min)
- Brainstorming: How might travelers more safely travel to new places? (11:00 min)
- Brainstorming: How might things be attached securely in extreme temperatures? (10:00 min)
- Silently sorted ideas on the tabletop (3:30 min)
- Discussed and chose group names (2:00 min)
- Each participant voted for 10 ideas each (5:00 min)
Total time: 53:00 min
Total time brainstorming new ideas: 31:30 min
The session was held in the living room at my house at a long dining room table. To get the table set up for the session it was covered in sheets of white paper in order to keep the room brighter and ideally make it more like a blank canvas to induce new ideas. Additionally, it could be easily written on later in the session when coming up with group names. As the details of the brainstorming session were relatively unknown when planning the date and location of it, the wall space needed for hanging up ideas was not known so some adaptation had to be done with the room I had to work with. So when it came to displaying the ideas during the session, they were hung up on the window panes around the table and were taken off the windows and put on the blank table when it came time to sort and vote.
The materials that were prepared for the session were 50 sheets of printer paper cut into quarters (total of 200 quarter sheets), 6 different colored markers, 6 sheets of printer paper with a different letter written on each of the sheets, rolls of clear office tape, and 6 sheets of 10 circle stickers. The quarter sheets were used for the demographic info and new ideas, a separate colored marker was used for each participant, the 6 full sheets with letters on them were used for the original warm-up activity, the tape was used to stick the ideas to the windows, and the stickers were used for voting.
Participants:
There were 6 participants in this brainstorming session, not including myself. As can be seen in the timeline above, the participants each filled out one of the quarter sheets with their demographic info, in their unique marker color for the hour. They were asked to write down their name, age, occupation, and whether or not they have a car phone mount. Margaret and Dan are my parents, Judy is my grandma, Chloe is a friend from high school, Jodi R. is a family friend, and Jodi S. (with the gray marker) is a friend from high school’s mom.
Warm Up:
Original Warm Up Activity: Letter Drawing
When thinking of a new warm up idea I wanted it to be something involving drawing and sketching since I didn’t expect most of my participants to be very excited about having to draw for a half hour, or at least not feel comfortable with their skill level. To connect this back to the improv ideas, I wanted to create a warm up activity that incorporated bonding, lowering inhibitions, going for quantity, and deferring judgement. I also got some inspiration for this activity from the creativity tests we took early in the semester that had us draw as many things as we could starting with a triangle. The activity that I came up with involved the participants each getting a sheet of printer paper that already had a single letter written in the top left corner (each had a different letter). Once they had a sheet they would have 30 seconds to draw as many things as they could that started with the letter on the page, with the goal being quantity. For example, if they got a sheet with a “P” on it, they may draw a pie, or a pig. Following the 30 seconds they would pass the paper clockwise and then have another 30 seconds on the next paper, that already had the last participant’s ideas on it. Along with quantity, they were told to try and come with new ideas not already on the sheet they got. This continued in 30 second increments until each paper was back where it started. While not much time was put into choosing which letters to have on the paper, RSTLNE from Wheel of Fortune was in the back of my mind.
Through this warm-up activity the participants bonded in their frustration with having to draw things quickly, while gradually also lowering inhibitions by being forced to make a drawing and quickly move on to the next without allowing time to get caught up on much. I thought this skill of lowering inhibitions was especially important to get the participants in the mind set that they can draw and that their drawings don’t have to be super high quality. Additionally, the participants got warmed up in the improv skill of going for quantity by being under a time crunch and trying to come up with as many sketches as possible. Due to the limited time, the participants were nearly forced to defer judgement and just focus on the task at hand as there simply wasn’t time to do otherwise. The completed sheets from the Letter Drawing warm-up are shown below.
As well as Letter Drawing, the other warm up activities done in the brainstorming session were Word Ball (both association and non-association), and telling a story one word at a time.
Brainstorm Session:
Overall, the brainstorming session went very well, and the participants were very willing to be open minded when it came to the warm-up activities and the idea generation. Throughout the brainstorming session, the Letter Drawing warm-up activity sheets were introduced to inspire new ideas, as well as the random words shown in the in-class brainstorming session.
As mentioned earlier, the ideas were taped to the window panes behind the table during the idea generation. Following this they were taken off the windows, the tape was folded down, ideas were placed on the table, and chairs were moved from the table, so the ideas could easily be moved and seen during sorting and voting. During sorting and voting the ideas were kept on the table and were (for the most part) facing the same direction.
Ideas Before Sorting:
Sorting:
When it came to sorting the ideas, the participants were told to sort the ideas however they saw best fit but without talking, as we did in class. Overall this worked fairly well, however, in hindsight, a little longer than the 3:30 min given for this task may have helped make the results more clear. The resulting groups were then verbally decided on by the participants to be “Colors”, “Vehicles”, “Vehicles 2.0”, “Fasteners”, “Mounts”, and “Fantasy”. The “Colors” group was Judy sorting her ideas (all in green marker) into their own group. “Vehicles” and “Vehicles 2.0” were mainly alternative solutions related to non-car vehicles, with the “Vehicles 2.0” distinction simply occurring due to disconnected sorting on opposite ends of the table. “Fasteners” were mostly securing methods that were answers to the second how might we statement. In the “Mounts” group there were mostly phone mounts for non-vehicle objects. “Fantasy” was the more radical ideas that would require a lot more advancement in technology to get to their realization. However, the separations between all of the groups were a bit fuzzy, so it was hard to tell where one group ended and the other started.
Ideas After Sorting and Before Voting:
Voting:
When tasked with using their 10 votes on the generated ideas, the participants, as with those of us in the in-class brainstorming session, were not given specific guidelines for how to use their votes. Instead, they were simply told to vote by their own criteria, whatever they thought was important. Also, as with in class, they were allowed to use multiple votes on a single idea if they wished. I thought this was a good method to have them vote by as they would likely have less pressure to fit inside a box of guidelines that could have been placed on voting, potentially giving less attention to the more radical ideas that may be a few years in the making. For example, if they were told to vote for ideas they thought were the most possible, then ideas like the magic carpet may not have gotten the second most votes.
Following the brainstorming session the participants were asked what they thought about when choosing which ideas to use their votes on. Their responses were as follows:
Ideas After Voting:
10 highest voted ideas from the brainstorming session:
Note: There were 8 ideas with 2 votes, so I had a friend choose the 2 vote idea that would be the 10th highest voted idea from the brainstorming session.
6 Votes:
- Grocery Cart Mount — Margaret
4 Votes:
- Magic Carpet — Jodi R.
3 Votes:
- Flying Car — Jodi R.
- Flower Pot — Jodi R.
- Vibrate Left or Right Shoe if that is direction programmed — Margaret
- Fridge Mount with Magnet Phone Slides in — Margaret
- Bathroom Mirror Suction Cup Holder — Margaret
- Pizza Warmer in Glove Compartment — Margaret
- Have Map Arrow Built in Top of Tennis Shoe — Margaret
2 Votes:
Shower Mount — Jodi S.
Minutes Spent Brainstorming New Ideas: 31:30 min
Ideas Per Person:
Margaret — Blue: 25 Ideas
- 0.79 Ideas per minute
Chloe — Pink: 16 Ideas
- 0.51 Ideas per minute
Jodi R. — Maroon: 25 Ideas
- 0.79 Ideas per minute
Jodi S. — Gray: 17 Ideas
- 0.54 Ideas per minute
Dan — Orange: 12 Ideas
- 0.38 Ideas per minute
Judy — Green: 15 Ideas
- 0.48 Ideas per minute
Total Ideas: 110
3.49 Total Ideas per minute
0.58 Ideas on Average per minute per person
Top 10 Ideas:
Input from previous group meetings and family and friend input, along with my own thoughts, were used to narrow down all of the ideas created so far, down to the top 10 ideas. NUF analysis is completed below for each of the ideas.
From the group generated ideas, the top voted idea was a shopping cart phone mount, which I had also thought of in “Idea Generation Part I”. When looking at the NUF test I Googled this potential product and found that there definitely are some phone mounts that work on shopping carts, or just in the general case a rod that the mount can attach to. However, they certainly didn’t seem widespread (I haven’t seen one in person) and it seemed like most only faced the person pushing the cart. While useful is subjective, I think this product could be especially useful for two main groups of people: people who write their grocery lists on their phone, and parents that give their small children videos to watch in the shopping cart seat while walking through the store. Additionally, at the right cost, this seems feasible for big grocery stores to buy carts with this added feature for the benefit of their customers.
From the “User Research” blog, I had the idea of a phone mount with a base that was a putty type material that would be moldable to any spot in a car, in order to work well with cars with odd layouts. From what I could tell from my market research and general searching, this product does not exist currently. However, I did find a product that could work well for this purpose called Sugru Mouldable Glue. Based on my interviews in “User Research”, this would be useful for people with cars that don’t match well with the currently available phone mounts. This is definitely feasible with more research and help determining the best type of material to make the base out of.
For a more radical idea, beginning for me in “Idea Generation Part I”, and also showing up in similar forms in the brainstorming session, was the shoes that can help you navigate through pairing with your phone’s navigation. This idea is fairly new, with the main search result being a product called Lechal that was made especially to help visually impaired people navigate. However, in general this product is different as it has the projected directions on the ground. These would be useful for people who walk places a lot and need directions to get where they are going. This seems feasible, as technology gets smaller, to have a small projector type technology integrated into the shoe, potentially along with vibrations.
From the “Idea Generation Part I” was the idea for a phone holder in large university auditoriums along with a phone app that could be paired with a camera on the whiteboard, or a set of slides from a professor, in order to more easily see notes from class. I was not able to find anything like this online, and I have definitely not seen it in any of my lecture halls. However, I think it could definitely be useful for many students, as I often see students in class using their phone to zoom in on the whiteboard in order to read it better, or students taking a picture of the screen to look at later. Both of these problems could be solved with this product by having an already zoomed in image of the screen as well as the option to screenshot the notes. However, while the app/streaming option seems very useful, the phone could easily be used flat on the desk without a mount to accompany it. This is feasible by making a phone mount, similar to those already in existence, that attaches to an auditorium seat, as well as putting a camera on the board connected to an app that can stream the images to students phone. Additionally, with help from people who have experience, making the corresponding app should be feasible.
From “Idea Generation Part I” was the combination of a card reader and a car phone mount in order to speed up the process of paying for car related expenses such as gas and parking. While neither phone mounts or credit card readers are new, as far as I can tell, the combination is. I think that this product would be useful for any driver that has a debit or credit card. As most cars require gas still, and parking is often not free in city areas, this could reduce the steps needed to pay for these things. This product is more difficult to produce as it would require integration with gas stations, meters, parking ramps, and the like. Besides this, the actual mount should be relatively feasible, however, it would need a power source and would be slightly heavier than the standard phone mount.
Farther into the future of technology is the idea for a bluetooth connected phone screen hologram projector. As far as I can tell from Google research, this product is not currently created. However, there are prism shaped hologram screens that can be set on top of the phone screen in order to make a hologram with specially created images on the phone. I think this would be useful for car phone mount users as many complained about their car phone mount not being secure, and in the case of a hologram projector it would ideally be lighter and more easily secured to the car. Additionally, it could be taken in and out of the car to be used in other settings, such as to watch a movie on the go. With how fast technology is moving, and that there is already an early version of holograms on smart phones, I think this will soon be feasible with the help of computer scientists and engineers.
For an incremental improvement on the current market of car phone mounts is a car phone mount that flattens when not in use, for a more minimalist design. From my market research, this idea is new in this context, especially in regards to the mount being more out of sight when not in use. However, the inspiration for this design is the already existing iPad cases that go from a flat cover to a stand. This product would potentially be useful to anyone who uses a car phone mount, and particularly useful for people who don’t put their phone on the mount every time they drive. This is feasible to make as it is similar to preexisting tablet cases that uses similar shapes to hold up the device. However, it would require a flat enough and large enough space on the dashboard for it to collapse onto.
A more radical idea came from “User Research”, where cars would have the ability to project directions on the ground when paired with the navigation from your phone. Upon searching, I found that a similar setup can be installed on cars to display the car maker logo on the ground when a door is opened, like a welcome mat. There were a few search results that also showed LEDs being used to shine directions also, so this idea is not new, and it is also not widespread. I think this idea is useful for drivers as it keeps their eyes in their field of vision while driving and getting directions as they drive. As it has already been proven feasible in other applications (like on ground maker logos) this product can definitely be made, it would just require some pairing between the projected light and the navigation device (probably a phone). However, one issue regarding its usefulness may come in when it comes to other drivers. With directions projected on the ground by multiple cars, there is a potential for confusion and misreading of directions, possibly leading to car accidents.
In “User Research”, one of the complaints from a car phone mount user I interviewed was that there wasn’t a good spot in her car for her to attach her car phone mount as she was limited to places the suction cup could attach to. One idea that came from this was taking a scan of the interior of a car and then modeling a car phone mount according to where the driver wanted it, and what they wanted it to be shaped like. This customized mount could then be 3D printed in a relatively short amount of time and also fit the drivers specific needs. As suspected, 3D printed car phone mounts are already widely made, however, from what I can tell a scan of the car is not used in combination with them. This is useful for people with unique car layouts, as well as people that have a specific car phone mount in mind that is not sold. This could be feasible if there was a group of people in charge of making the models for the customized mounts as most people do not know how to do that on their own. Also, as 3D printing becomes more widely used, this should quickly become easier and cheaper to do.
From TRIZ in “Idea Generation Part I” and early market research came the idea for a car phone mount sold with multiple temperature specific adhesives to combat the problem of mounts falling off in extreme hot or cold temperatures. Based on “Market Research” this is not currently a product being sold. However, temperature specific adhesives do already exist. A car phone mount sold with temperature specific adhesives would be useful for people who live in areas that have a wide range of temperatures depending on the season, such as Minnesota. This may have a fairly small market though, since there are car phone mounts that attach with clips that aren’t temperature dependent that can be used instead. As these types of adhesives already exist, packaging them together with the mount would be feasible.
