sparking your creative juices 2013

Elizabeth Rosenzweig, @ 2010

Sparking Your Creative Juices

Elizabeth Rosenzweig Senior Usability Consultant, Adjunct Professor Bentley University, Design and Usablitty Center

Agenda !   Introduction

!   Creative Process

!   Innovation

!   Invention

!   Inventions that changed the world


•  Innovative User Centered Design

•  Examples •  Final Exercise •  Wrap

Creativity

!   Wikipedia: Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways.


Creativity

!   “Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts.” Rita Mae Brown, author

!   Creative process includes !   A vision !   Ability to focus on task !   Enjoyment, satisfaction, sometimes loss of self-‐

consciousness !   Immediate feedback (to determine success and failure)

Elizabeth Rosenzweig, Bubble Mountain Consulting

Innovation


Innovation


!   “Sometime when you innovate you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” Steve Jobs, CEO, inventor

!   Combines many disciplines

!   Needs a vision

Creativity and Innovation

!   Common theme !   A new idea !   Solving a problem !   A vision !   Focusing !   Iteration


Invention !   “Necessity, who is the mother of invention”

Plato The Republic. Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC -‐ 347 BC)

!   Necessity sees a problem and solves it.

!   Basic science-‐ test a hypothesis, refine the idea

!   Trial and error-‐ not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them


Creating Something New

!   “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity.” Carl Jung


Where do you start !   Find a problem that needs to be solved

OR

!   Find a problem that YOU think need to be solved and you have some ideas


Any problem that exists has a solution

!   The key is not to rush the answer, many problems are solved through your unconscious mind.

!   Do the work of defining the problem

!   ITERATE !   Research the solution, experiment, learn from your

mistakes !   Live with some questions !   Test the results

!   Evolve the idea!


Live the Questions

“Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. “

Rainer Maria Rilke, poet, author


Exercise !   Pairs

!   You are experts and there is at least one topic you know a lot about.

!   Dialogue on your one problem you see and how you would solve it. What problem out there really needs solving?

!   Share it with us.


Inventions that Changed the World

!  Around the World

!   Some recent invention


Invention of the Mirror !   Water as the first mirror

!   Glass was invented in Lebanon, near Syria.

!   Not a surprise that mirrors were invented in Syria

!   Name of inventor is unknown


Automated Spinning Wheel

!   Weavers had become faster, so spinners had to get faster to keep up production. 1764, a British carpenter and weaver named James Hargreaves invented an improved spinning jenny . Spinner machines like the spinning wheel and the spinning jenny made the threads and yarns used by weavers in their looms.


Engines

!   In 1712, Thomas Newcomen together with John Calley built their first steam engine ( top of a water filled mine shaft)

!   The invention of engines, the first being steam engines provide automation of tasks, transportation, easier life


Invention of Electricity The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.


Invention of Electricity


Clothes Washer !   Originally people

hand washed their cloths in rivers and lakes.

!   A scrub board was the first invention in 1797 by James King.

!   1858 Hamilton Smith invented a machine that would rotate clothes while washing them.


Improving Quality of Life

!  Having fun!


Putting things together in a new way

!   Reese Peanut Butter Cups


Who thought of this?


KodPhotography !  A technology that had to evolve.

!  One man found a solution to a user problem and changed the world.Invention of Photography Timeline

!  Camera obscura used to form images on walls in darken rooms (image formation from a pihole)

!  16-‐17th centurn camera obscuraused by artists for portraits

!  1816 Nicéphore Niépce combines the camera obscura with photosensitive paper

!  1826: Niépce creates a permanent image

!  1834: Henry Fox Talbot creates permanent (negative) images using paper soaked in silver chloride and fixed with a salt solution. Talbot created positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of paper.

!  1837: Louis Daguerre creates images on silver-‐plated copper, coated with silver iodide and "developed" with warmed mercury; Daguerre is awarded a state pension by the French government in exchange for publication of methods and the rights by other French citizens to use the Daguerreotype process.

!  1841: Talbot patents his process under the name "calotype”.

!  1851-‐1888 evolouion inventions include dry plate, color and portait salons

!  1880 George Eastmna opnes Eastman Dry Plate Company in rochester, NY

!  1888 First Kodak caemara wi h a 20 foot

!  1889 Seoncd Kodak Camera will roll of film instead of paper


Large Format, wet plate photograph Elizabeth Rosenzweig, @ 2010

!   Wet plate process, portable? Easy to use?


!   George Eastman and Thomas Edison


Inventors !   "You press the button, we

do the rest" promised George Eastman in 1888

!   Collaboration, Eastman created the film that enabled Thomas Edison’s motion picture camera in 1891.

!   http://inventors.about.com


User Centered Design Solution

!   Smaller camera

!   Dry film

!   Roll film

!   One button-‐ you push it we do the rest


Kodak Camera 1888


George Eastman with the Kodak Camera


Advertisement for Kodak Brownie Camera 1900



Instructions for using the Kodak camera

Kodak Park, Rochester, New York


New inventions !   Build on something that already exists

!   Brings together things that have not been put together before

!   Solves a problem


Bill Buxton: "Great design is as much about prospecting in the past as it is about inventing the future. This we can see in the following tale of two pocket-‐sized examples of personal technology – separated by 76 years. In 1926, Kodak launched the third generation of their Vest Pocket camera line, the Series III. This version of the camera was released in April, 1928 under the name, the Vanity Kodak. 2003, Apple Computer had just launched the third generation of their iPod MP3 music player. This version of the iPod was released in January, 2004 under the name, the iPod Mini.

Learning from the Past


Many inventions together, can point us to another


Old and New Photography

!   Traditional photography changed the world of 1900s

!   Digital Photography could change the world of 2000s but has yet to make that leap

!   Is there an opportunity to build on this foundation?


Exercise !   Real brainstorm about solution to a problem

!   Get into groups of 4 or 5

!   Agree to focus on a a problem based on an issue from your last exercise (What are you an expert on?)

!   See how many different solutions you can come up with in 10 minutes (Use flipchart to list solutions)

!   Present them to class


User Driven versus Technology Driven

Problem definition

Technology available

Possible solutions

End Product

Marketing Possibilities Problem

solution

End Product


User Driven Innovation Problem definition


Brainstorm Possible solutions

End Product

Marketing Possibilities

Problem solution

User Feedback

(edits ideas)


You are inventors

!   You solve problems everyday

!   Examples everywhere

!   Examples in your company

!   Examples in your institution

How to Innovate: Brainstorm

!   Choose a problem you want to solve

!   Brainstorm exercise: !   What problems do we have today to solve: !   What is technology available !   How can we put technology together to solve these

problems

!   Remember rules: !   Don’t restrain your ideas !   Don’t dismiss ideas that are not fully developed !   Be patient, allow ideas to sit and evolve !   No editing, that comes later





End Product


Problem solution

User Feedback

(edits ideas)


User Driven Innovation Problem definition Technology

available


End Product


Problem solution

User Feedback

(edits ideas)


Exercise Design a focus group or contextual inquiry to research your

new idea

•  Define who is your user?

•  What do you want to know about them?

•  What is the issues you want to uncover?

•  What do you expect to find? What is your hypothesis?

•  How did it turn out?

•  What do you think about the issue now?





End Product


Problem solution

User Feedback (edits ideas)


Exercise


Exercise Design a usability test for a paper prototype of your new

idea

•  Who is your user? (Is it the same people as your focus group?)

•  Use a paper prototype to do the test

•  What did you learn?





End Product


Problem solution

User Feedback (edits ideas)


Exercise: Making Connections

!   Use examples from earlier exercise: !   What was the most promising idea

!   Brainstorm !   What problems do we have today to solve: !   What is technology available !   How can we put technology together to solve these

problems

!   Group or small group depending on size

!   Report back


My Patents 1   7,028,253 Agent for integrated annotation and retrieval of images ARIA

2 7,020,848 Comprehensive, multi-‐dimensional graphical user interface using picture metadata for navigating and retrieving pictures in a picture database

3  6,950,989 Timeline-‐based graphical user interface for efficient image

database browsing and retrieval 4 6,883,146 Picture database graphical user interface utilizing map-‐based metaphors for efficient browsing and retrieving of pictures


Intelligent User Interface for Visual Systems

!   I was frustrated by trying to find my pictures on my computer

!   I saw many other people frustrated by the same things

!   I went to my friends at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to brainstorm


ARIA


ARIA

! http://web.media.mit.edu/~lieber/Lieberary/Aria/Aria-‐Intro.html

! http://web.media.mit.edu/~lieber/Lieberary/Aria/Commonsense-‐Aria-‐Demo.swf


ARIA


Another Example: World Usability Day

!   See a need and search for a solution

!   Let the idea develop over time

!   First World Usability Day was 2005

!   6th World Usability Day, November 11, 2010

!   44 countries, 40,000 participants, 10,000 volunteers


World Usability Day 2010 will serve as an impetus to creating greater awareness

for designs, products and services that improve and facilitate communication

around the world,

Communication is the theme for World Usability Day 2010

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How did I do it? !   I had some big questions

!   I had some big problems

!   I know about some technology and asked for advice on issues I didn’t know

!   I focused on a narrow piece of the problem

!   I didn’t rush the answers

!   I kept working the issues


Exercise: Making Connections

!   Use examples from earlier exercise: !   What was the most promising idea

!   Brainstorm !   What problems do we have today to solve: !   What is technology available !   How can we put technology together to solve these

problems

!   Group or small group depending on size

!   Report back



!   Creative process

!   Innovation and Invention

!   Let your unconscious mind help you

!   Let others help you

!   Find a problem you have passion about


Contact information !   Elizabeth Rosenzweig

! www.bubblemountain.com

! www.worldusabilityday.com

! [email protected]

!   617-‐244-‐6905



Elizabeth Rosenzweig Bentley University

Design and Usability Center [email protected]

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