Last class was our second class period devoted to ideation. We followed the same format as the previous class, except this time with a different problem statement to focus on. My group and I followed the steps similar to last class by attempting to come up with as many ideas as possible.
Initially, I was surprised that we were being told to repeat the same process as the previous class. I believed we had already come up with ideas we were pleased with. Repeating the process seemed unnecessary and repetitive. I now understand how this step should have created more opportunities for innovation with a wider selection of ideas, but we still struggled through the process.
Our group found ourselves to be stuck during this process multiple times. The initial brainstorming period was rough, with far fewer ideas being generated than our first attempt at ideation. I cannot speak for my group, but the problem that I was having was that this problem statement was very similar to our original one from our previous class, which was leading me to generate the same ideas. I struggled to come up with undergraduate housing ideas that didn’t concern compact furniture.
When we weren’t getting very far in our idea generation, we were advised by Professor Luchs to move on to the ‘crazy’ idea generation. We struggled with this as well. Ideas similar to the ones we came up with last time were still making their way to the board, and I felt as if we were lacking the creativity and innovation that revisiting this process was meant to foster.
Despite this early struggle, I am finally more pleased and surer of the direction that our project is headed in. After we multi-voted, we all came to a consensus on a product we want to focus on in our prototyping stage tomorrow. I am excited to see what becomes of our prototype and how we can improve upon our initial idea.
As I mentioned in the previous blog, I was and continue to enjoy the connection to boot camp that this process contains. I really enjoy proper framing in a learning experience, and boot camp did exactly that for myself. The processes are being mirrored in the larger project in the manner that they were over our two-day boot camp. As I remember the excitement of prototyping, I’m growing increasingly more excited about our product.