Introduction to Human-Centered Design: Conceptual Design and Prototyping

EPICS High School WorkshopTuesday, July 12, 2011

William Oakes and Carla Zoltowski

Creativity and Brainstorming Creativity is a divergent thinking skill in which we

postpone judgment and try to see a situation from as many different perspectives as possible.

Brainstorming is a term used for the creative generation of many ideas.

Why Do It? Creativity and brainstorming can be applied in many

situations. Certainly important at the beginning of the design process, it can also be applied to any form of problem solving. It is particularly helpful in getting “unstuck” when your problem solving bogs down. It is also applied in trouble-shooting and failure analysis to develop the possible hypotheses that will make up your differential diagnosis.

Expanding the Design Space

BrainstormingBrainstorming can be done individually

or as a teamTeam brainstorming = Taking advantage

of the contributions of the teamSum is greater than the individuals

Theory is to stimulate our brains to use our whole brain to expand the options to include the best solution

Brainstorming rules Explain the entire procedure to the team Choose one facilitator

Records ideas and participates in the generation of ideas.

Record ideas that are easily visible to the whole team.

Rotate around the group with each person getting to add one idea per rotation. Let members say “pass”Move quickly.

NO value judgments. Write ALL ideas down Facilitator treats ALL ideas the same

Continue until the entire team is passing

Brainstorming – 6-3-5Group of 6 peopleEach person writes down 3 ideasPass to right, next person adds to

paper for 5 minutes..Ideas can be new, extend, or modify

original ideasNo verbal communication during

activity

Brainstorming – 6-3-5 PracticeGet in groups of 6; select one project

from your groupEach person writes down 3 ideasPass to right, next person adds to

paper for 5 minutes..Ideas can be new, extend, or modify

original ideasNo verbal communication during

activity

Each groupHow many different ideas did your

group come up with?

Did you start running out of new ideas?

Triggers Triggers are specific tools to actively bump your brain out of its ruts.

They are designed to get you thinking from a different perspective. Many triggers are available (crazy, creative people are always thinking up more), and some are listed below.

  Other’s Shoes – Reconsider the problem from the perspective of a

plumber, civil engineer, physician, child, attorney, basketball player, etc. You can keep this close to your personal comfort level by picking roles you know something about, like plumber perhaps, and then expand to more fanciful ones, like princess.

Nature – How does nature deal with this issue, or how would you do it if you were Mother Nature?

Opposite – How would you solve the opposite problem (from “cut down a tree” to “grow a tree”)? Or, consider the opposite of some of your ideas (from “cut with a saw” to join with “hot glue”).

Random – Use random words, pictures, movie titles, professor names to generate more ideas.

More Triggers Analogy – Consider what has similar function but different appearance

(automatic clothes washer to washboard), what has similar appearance but different function (washboard to cheese grater), or what has a similar name and different use (bottle cap to baseball cap)?

Craziest Idea – take the craziest idea and try use the kernel to get to a practical solution (“Cut down a tree with scissors” to “cut with large hydraulic shears”).

Boundaries/Constraints – Remove, adjust, or explore the boundaries of the problem. (If the problem is a better way to wash clothes, what about recycling the old shirt into a new shirt instead of washing? Does it have to be “wash” or can it be “clean” or “deodorize”?)

Anthropomorphize – Consider yourself to be the piece of equipment or process. Or consider yourself a molecule flowing through the system. (For “Why is this part failing?” think- “Am I getting hot anywhere, where do I feel the stress?”)

Combine – Take different ideas and see what happens if you add them together, or combine them in some other way (Problem: “wash clothes” – combine “spray with a hose” and “pound on a rock” to “spray with wet rocks”)

Other – Brainstorm your own trigger or find a trigger in a reference.

Brainstorming - SCAMPER Substitute – can you use a different method, device, or

material or changed the environment? Combine – can you combine ideas together to produce

a better idea? Adapt – what ideas are similar that could be emulated

or adapted to fit the current need? Modify, Minify, Magnify – can you change the current

idea, make it smaller or larger in some way? Put to other uses – can you use the idea in a new way? Eliminate – are there any ideas that have been shown

to not work? Reverse, Rearrange – would an opposing idea give you

additional information, or can you interchange the key elements of the idea to form a new one?

Looking at nature Innovative vehicle

designs often are based on what we think of for a vehicle

How many animals have you ever seen that move with wheels?

Whack Pack app Explorer

Role for discovering resources you’ll use to create new ideas

ArtistRole for transforming your resources into new ideas

JudgeRole for evaluating an idea and deciding what to do

with it Warrior

Role for implementing your idea Heraclitus

Insights

Practice with Triggers Other’s Shoes Nature Opposite Random Analogy Craziest Idea Boundaries/

Constraints Anthropomorphize Combine

Each groupWere using the triggers helpful in

generating more ideas?