Investigation 5: Ideation

Assigned

Monday, 3 May 2021

Summary

In this assignment, you will practice two important ideation techniques: brainstorming in a group and sketching on your own.

Collaboration

You will work in a team on the start of this assignment and then conclude on your own. You may consult with others as you conclude the assignment.

Part 0. Rewrite problems (optional, approx. 5 min)

We will only do this if there is time.

Rewrite the problem you have posted to the Task 10 channel to make it more amenable for this exercise. (Alternately, post a new problem.)

Part 1: Brainstorming (group, in class)

Brainstorming is a form of divergent thinking, often done in small grups. Today, you’ll brainstorm ideas to one of the design challenges posed to you. Once you have selected a topic (see next section), begin to ideate solutions. Aim for at least 50 ideas, recording each on an electronic note on an electronic whiteboard.

Remember that design ideas are more than just a medium. For example, “iPhone App” is not an idea until you say what it does and how it addresses the problem. For example, “iPhone App that nags you to eat breakfast to combat mid-class fade-out” is an idea.

When compared to individual ideation, brainstorming is not very productive. Reasons proposed for this lack of productivity has been attributed to evaluation aprhension (fear of critique), social loafing (assuming others will do the work), and production blocking (only wone person can talk at a time). We’ll try to overcome these limitations by remembering a few rules:

• Focus on quantity.
• Number your ideas.
• Withhold criticism.
• Welcome unusual ideas.
• Watch for chances to “build” and “Jump”
• Use the space to remember.
• Elect a note-taker.
• Write your own ideas while others are talking. (This is a bit harder in a shared electronic whiteboard, but give it a try.)

Ideas generally come from being around things related to the design problem. Being online doesn’t generally help for this. You will need to find ways to get yourself unstuck at times. You can rely on some of the tips your classmates and I have posted to our channel.

Break into groups and review instructions (approx. 5 min)

The teams are listed in the Investigation 5 channel. The first member of each team will create a new meeting in that channel, invite others, and open a whiteboard. Others will then join.

Select a problem (approx. 5 min)

Read through the design challenges posted to the Task 10 channel on our class Team. Select one that was not proposed by a member of your group. Make sure that it is broad enough to warrant a wide variety of solutions, and not just technological solutions.

Brainstorm (approx. 30 min)

• Get to it. Remember: Your idea is to produce ideas, not to critique them
• If you get stuck, find an idea to get unstuck.
• Capture the screen at the end.

Critique (remaining time)

Consider your ideas and reflect: Which are just media, which are partial ideas, which are full ideas? Which did you like the most and why?

Part 2: Sketching (on your own)

Get an 8.5 x 11 sheet of blank, white paper. Fold it in quarters both the long way and the short way. You should end up with sixteen rectangles (on both the front the back).

Write the problem in the top-left rectangle on the front of the page.

Sketch 31 ideas that might address the design challenge, one in each remaining space, writing a brief caption for each. The front and back will have different kinds of ideas.

Those on the front should come from ideas that already exist in the world, whether available as products, described in research papers, or imagined in fiction. Consider these your literature review and prior art search, where you map the space of solutions that have already been designed for your problem. Provide some kind of citation when possible.

Those on the back should be things that you think do not yet exist in the world; these should be ideas you thought of yourself or with your group.

Some guidelines

• Focus on quantity, not quality.
• No two ideas should be alike. There will be gray areas, but one way to decide whether they are different is to consider the effect you think they will have on the problem. Solutions with the same effect but a different implementation should be treated as the same solution. For example, a mobile app that performs the same function as a web site would be one solution.
• Sketch, don’t draw. Focus conveying the idea, not the details.
• Every caption should include an active verb, specifically conveying what the solution does to address the problem.
• Some solutions should involve information technology, but low-tech solutions are also good.
• When you get stuck, go out into the world to find ideas!

Deliverables and Rubric

Scan or take a photograph of each side of your page of sketches. Share those sketches in the Investigation 5 channel for our Team.

Since the stated goal was to “focus on quantity, not quality”, you will receive one point per distinct idea you have sketched. If you sketch at least 24 distinct ideas, you will earn the full 24 points available on this assignment.