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Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites Mind Games Brain Storming, Lateral Thinking and Conceptualization

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Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Mind Games Brain Storming, Lateral Thinking and Conceptualization

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Contents

Analogy / Solution transfer Bio-mimicry Brainstorming SCAMPER Optimization tables Hub & Spoke diagrams Fishbone diagrams Lateral Thinking Morphological Analysis

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Mind Games Analogy / solution transfer

Analogy is the distillation of problem essence, the search for similarities elsewhere, and the attempted transfer of solutions.

1. Isolate the core elements of the problem. 2. Search for occurrences of similar elements elsewhere. 3. Attempt solution transfer and evaluate.

Examples:

Skipping pebbles over water led Barnes Wallace to the idea of the rotating cylinder that was the ‘bouncing bomb’. The precision altimeter (to ensure the correct drop height) was made using two crossing beams of light – an idea borrowed from the theatre after noticing how converging spotlight beams formed a single spot at a particular distance.

A water-ski ramp was the analogy for the ‘ski-jump’ fitted to all aircraft carriers operating the Sea Harrier VTOL aircraft. The ramp alleviates the problems of restricted take-off weight and high fuel consumption.

Borrowing lightweight geometries from the Spitfire undercarriage, Owen Finlay Maclaren designed a new form of push-chair, the folding ‘baby buggy’.

Bio-mimicry A special case of analogy / solution transfer, where the natural world may already have a solution to a similar problem.

1. Identify analogous or similar problem in the natural world. 2. Identify species affected and observe natural solutions. 3. Attempt solution transfer and evaluate.

Examples:

Echo-location (bats) → sonar (submarine), radar (radio echo-location).

Perspiration (all animals) → evaporative cooling systems for domestic air conditioning.

Thorny defenses (roses, holly, cacti) → barbed wire.

Attachment to coastal rocks (limpet) → sucker pads for lifting glass sheets.

Long toed or webbed feet (wading birds) → snow shoes and flippers.

Digging holes (human arm and cupped hand) → excavator arm and bucket

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Reflections from animal retina at night → Percy Shaw’s ‘Cats Eyes’ road stud.

Eyes of animals → camera lens and auto-iris.

Seed burrs (burdock) → Geo de Mestral and Alfred Gonet’s hook & loop tape (Velcro)

Wing retraction in fast dive (gulls, diving birds) → Swing-wing supersonic aircraft.

Brainstorming Described by Alex Osborn (1941). Used for generating a mass of ideas or alternative approaches.

1. Multiple contributors in same room – ideally from different backgrounds. 2. Appoint a scribe to record ideas 3. Freewheeling of all ideas – quantity before quality – weird and unusual ideas

encouraged – no criticism allowed – continue to exhaustion of ideas. 4. Incubate ideas – consider mixing elements from several ideas 5. Select ideas for their potential, but don’t discard the rest – they may have value later.

Examples: What functionality (other than voice calls) could be offered in a future mobile phone? · Voice messaging · Email, text messages · White pages and yellow pages · EFT – pay bills · Ticket ordering · Download music · Phone is your diary / address book · Navigation / route planning · Goal of the day (video clip) · Interactive games · Place classified ads · Voice-to-text for the deaf · Remote controller for house systems · Phone is your payment card · Phone unlocks doors – security pass

· News gathering tool for reporters · Camera – send images · Videophone · Wireless alarms · Catalogue shopping · Stocks & shares trading · Passport photographs · Bank statements · News broadcasts · Sports fixtures and results · Phone is a franking machine · Place racing bets · Phone is your personal ID card · Phone contains your agent · Phone is your TV remote controller

Experience suggests that brainstorming sessions are most fruitful when the participants have been given an opportunity to explore and document their own ideas in advance. Impromptu sessions, where participants arrive empty-handed, often end up simply listing the ideas already explored, and if a novel idea does emerge, it often becomes dominant, with participants simply offering minor refinements around the theme. However, if an idea is so profound that it is universally agreed to be the best approach, it is perfectly reasonable to re-scope (or reschedule) the brainstorming session to focus on the dominant idea.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

SCAMPER Described by Bob Eberle. Used to alter an existing product to provide new opportunities or overcome constraints.

Run through the checklist: SUBSTITUTE components, materials, processes, places, people. COMBINE components, assemblies, solutions, ideas. Integrate, mix, and find synergies. ADAPT components, change function, use part of a solution found elsewhere MODIFY an existing part, change shape, size, and colour PUT an existing part or product to another use. ELIMINATE parts or functions, simplify, reduce product to core function REVERSE parts, inside-out, upside-down.

Method: SUBSTITUTION: By replacing the conventional brass valve inside a domestic water tap (faucet) with a ceramic valve, corrosion problems were reduced dramatically, eliminating drips, extending life, reducing maintenance frequency, and producing a smoother action. COMBINATION: A company manufactured electrical instruments. By using machine screws with an integral washer, foreign object damage was virtually eliminated (no tiny washers getting into the mechanism), and assembly times were reduced. By changing the instrument chassis from folded sheet metal construction to an investment casting, a single investment casting could replace 8 individually folded parts and 50 rivets. ADAPTATION: Gutenberg’s first design for a printing press (c.1450) was probably an adaptation of the wine press. He would have seen many such presses near his home in the Rhine Valley. MODIFICATION: A can opener must be modified to provide improved grip for use by elderly and dexterity-impaired users. Drag racing cars have engines modified to run on nitrous oxide fuel. Railway locomotives for use on mountain railways have a cog under the body to engage with a track between the rails. Early steam locos for use on mountain railways had the boiler tilted at an angle to the chassis, to maintain water levels on the steep slopes.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

PUT to alternative use: The jam-action mechanism used to squeeze silicone sealant from a tube was put to use in the design of a low-cost quick-release clamp for DIY woodworking, replacing heavy screw-operated forged steel clamps. ELIMINATION: Fasteners can be eliminated by welding or adhesive bonding. The functions of separate fabricated components can be integrated into single cast or molded structures. The automobile chassis is eliminated by monocoque construction. The most recent self-priming vehicle paints eliminate the need for a primer coat. REVERSAL: In 1946, British automobile manufacturers lacked development funding. One manufacturer overcame this constraint by re-using the chassis from an existing family car upside down to create a low-slung chassis for its new sports car.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Optimization tables Used by the author to list requirements and allocate possible solutions to each requirement, revealing synergies and potential conflicts. 1. List requirements, and list possible solutions adjacent. 2. Identify synergies and conflicting elements. 3. Prioritize requirements and 4. Select solutions that minimize conflict and maximize synergy.

Example: The table below shows 3 particular requirements extracted from a specification for an agricultural vehicle…

Requirement Possible solutions

Electrical circuits must be easy to test and maintain.

Wiring in each circuit to be uniquely color coded. Wiring to be identified with numbered sleeves. Bring wiring to a test point and use automatic test equipment.

Vehicle must be resistant to keyless (unauthorized) starting, such as hot wiring.

All wiring same color to frustrate identification and hot wiring of ignition circuit. Ignition key contains security chip. Fit vehicle immobilizer. Fully wrap wiring looms to frustrate access to ignition circuit.

Minimize component count, and minimize the number of component variants used.

Use minimum number of different wiring types and insulation colors. Use the smallest number of different fasteners.

Conflict

Conflict

Synergy

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Hub & Spoke diagrams

For displaying issues around a central theme. Useful for quickly getting issues onto paper, and for rapid communication, especially in presentations.

1. Insert hub and satellite issues. 2. Look for patterns and conflicts. 3. Solve satellite issues using cause/effect analysis or problem/solution list.

Example: An existing commercial VHF radio transmitter (portable) has to be redesigned for supply to the Army. What are the issues?

The hub and spoke diagram has two close relatives. These are:

Bubble Diagrams, where there may be multiple hubs including secondary hubs, and where the links can be both radial and lateral.

Mind Maps (after Tony Buzan): a secondary school approach to problem mapping.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Fishbone diagrams

Described by Dr Kaoru Ishikawa. For cause and effect analysis. Useful for narrowing down causes of problems. Useful in exploring ‘what if’ scenarios.

1. For cause analysis, put the problem on the right and feed likely causes to it. 2. For effect analysis, put the test scenario on the left, and radiate the potential

consequences away from it. Example: A rise in payphone handset breakage rates has been recorded since mid-November. The problem is geographically widespread, but affects only outdoor locations. What could be the cause?

Possible causes are given in the diagram. The actual cause was found by experiment and elimination to be a combination of three of the identified factors, namely:

using a grade of plastic other than that specified, resulting in…

cold embrittlement failure, accelerated by…

cumulative low level stress damage in the plastic from normal knocks and bumps.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Lateral Thinking Described by Dr Edward de Bono. Otherwise known as ‘thinking outside the box’, lateral thinking extends creative thought beyond the normal boundaries. Useful where conventional (tramline) logic has failed.

1. Identify and challenge existing beliefs, pet ideas, logic and accepted orthodoxy. 2. Recognize and dismantle dominant (polarizing) ideas. Ideas with names become frozen

– use visual images rather than names. 3. Get beyond ‘cannot’ by using ‘perhaps if’. 4. Look at ‘what isn’t’ rather than ‘what is’ (shifted viewpoint - inversion). 5. Take concepts from unrelated fields and try them on the current problem (random

juxtaposition). Encourage chance relationships and associations. Play, serendipity and random thoughts are important. Take the outsider’s view for a new perspective.

6. Six thinking hats (shifted viewpoint – attitude changes). The viewpoints (hats to be worn) are:

· Factual – state the facts · Emotional – describe feelings · Critical – emphasize negative aspects · Positive – emphasize positive aspects · Creative – new ideas arising from a review of old information · Overall process control – manages the other 5 hats.

Examples:

A paper roll printer on a prototype multimedia kiosk suffered paper jams because of the long curved paper path. Ignoring assumptions, the printer was mounted upside down, dropping prints straight into the paper tray. There were no paper jams during the remaining 4 years of its operation.

Theorists believed that tangential fans (air movers) could not work. They are now fitted to millions of fan heaters around the world.

Instead of pushing an aircraft body through the air to create lift on the attached wings, the body remains stationary and the wings are pushed through the air by rotating about a vertical axis. This is the helicopter.

Plastic is not porous, but a fiber bundle has capillary spaces between the fibers, allowing ink to go where the plastic isn’t. This is the fiber-tip pen.

Edward Jenner switched his attention from why people contracted smallpox to why dairymaids didn’t. This focus on the negative led to the discovery of cowpox and the development of vaccination against smallpox.

Chance events lead to new discoveries. For example: Radio waves (Hertz), X-rays (Roentgen), penicillin (Fleming), inoculation (Pasteur) were all chance discoveries.

Tommy Flowers (of the British Post Office) thought it possible to use vacuum tubes (thermionic amplifier valves) as switches to form the basis of a calculating machine. His ideas gave birth to the first electronic computer.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

Morphological Analysis

Described by Prof Fritz Zwicky. A mechanistic process in which all possible combinations of existing product features are explored, without creating new features. This is useful for finding new product opportunities.

1. Identify the principal features of the product. 2. Tabulate, with principal features as column headings. 3. List all variants under each heading. 4. Look for missing and novel combinations.

Example: Are there any undeveloped variants of the desk lamp?

Base types Shade types Light sources Number of shades

Number of light sources

Procelain vase Metal cylinder Strip filament 1 1

Weighted metal Metal funnel Strip fluorescent 2 2

Glass vase Glass (bankers) Candle bulb 3 3

Column Fabric on wire Compact fluorescent

4 4

See-saw (counter-weight)

Glass sphere Mains halogen

Angle-poise Bare bulb 12-volt halogen

Swan neck Built-in magnifier Multiple white LED

Bronze statue Metal parabola Mains filament bulb

There are (8x8x8x4x4) = 8,192 possible combinations, at least 7,000 of which have never been developed as a product. For example, a swan neck base with 2 glass spheres containing a mains halogen bulb in each shade … does not exist. This particular combination might not yield a viable product, but it illustrates the potential for this technique.

Author: Andrew Taylor BSc MA FRSA – Design‐Bites

LINKS and RESOURCES Brainstorming www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html Brainstorming www.brainstorming.co.uk/ and http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/processguides/brainstorming.html Mind maps: www.peterussell.com/MindMaps/HowTo.html Mind maps: www.mind-map.com/mindmaps_howto.htm Biomimicry: www.biomimicry.net Biomimcry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, Janine M. Benyus, 2007. Cause & Effect analysis: www.skymark.com/resources/tools/cause.asp Fishbone diagram: http://quality.enr.state.nc.us/tools/fishbone.htm Fishbone diagram: www.mycoted.com/creativity/techniques/fishbone.php Ishikawa diagram: http://mot.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/mt322/Ishikawa.htm Reverse fishbone: http://mml.stanford.edu/Research/Papers/1996/1996.ASME.DFM.Ishii/1996.ASME.DFM.Ishii.pdf Lateral thinking - Edward de Bono - www.edwdebono.com/debono/learning.htm Lateral thinking - www.educationau.edu.au/archives/cp/04i.htm Lateral thinking puzzles - http://rinkworks.com/brainfood/latreal.shtml Creative thinking booklist - www.lateralpuzzles.com/books.htm Six thinking hats - www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills, Paul Sloane. Morphological analysis: www.futurovenezuela.org/_curso/12-tree.pdf. Morphological analysis: www.swemorph.com/ma.html Morphological analysis: www.mycoted.com/creativity/techniques/morphanal.php How Designers Think, B Lawson, Architectural Press, 1980. Also see the section Generic Design Resources.

For General Design Tips and Resources, visit:

http://www.design1st.com/Design-Resource-Library/design-resource-center.html