| ADVENTUROUS THINKING Thought Bites October 2016 A geode is an incredible thing: all crusty rock on the outside and unexpected wonder when cracked open. We all have this potential to yield up unexpected brilliance, it just takes the right tools. I recently returned from working with curious, enthusiastic Year 11 Australian students and their Design Technology mentors to unearth and unfold innovative designs using some of the Adventurous Thinking lenses . It was a reminder that the tools are easy and the results are immediate. Remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed and need a silver lining, look inward to optimize the non-expert parts of your brain. Here are a couple of Five Lenses case studies to get you thinking! Sally Dominguez . Multifarian, Contrarian, Catalyst Negative Space Click the image above for a great article on Defensive Architecture. Did you know those uncomfortable bench dividers, angled bollards and anti-skateboard rivets have a name? It is a deliberate design genre known as "Defensive Architecture". Defending "public" spaces from the homeless and the skaters is a growing phenomenon. This is a darker aspect of Negative Space: not only the spaces when they are NOT used by the public (read, paying public) but also the concept of the users who are NOT wanted in society. Artist Sara Hegden has a leisure suit for every negative public space Thinking Sideways Lovers of silence may find it ironic that new US laws require whisper-quiet electric and alternative fuel vehicles to make noise by September 2018. After all, so much attention has been traditionally focused on muffling the sound of car engines. Studies on sound cannot agree: some OH&S studies suggest ambient noise increases general stress levels and may inhibit dopamine production, while others demonstrate background music can sooth, increase sales, increase accuracy, change the speed at which we move and enhance innovation. With apologies to Charles de Gaulle, silence may not always be the ultimate weapon of power. An interesting link to read: Group Work Can Harm Memory Thinking Backwards Biomimicry, the application of plant and animal attributes to human systems and products. Biomimicry is a cornerstone of Cradle to Cradle Thinking (the other is Technology). For a quick shot of curiosity and wonder, you can't beat the marvels of biomimicry. Here are fourteen animal-inspired inspirations to get you re-evaluating the plants and animals around you as potential solutions. I interviewed IKEA's Head of Design Marcus Engman in Hong Kong late 2014. A terrific speaker, Engman emphasized that IKEA's core value is "affordable, not cheap" and very much design-focused. ReThinking What you see on the left is not mere pegboard shelving but a sophisticated ReThink of.....a refrigerator. ConceptKitchen 2025 assumes less meat consumption, faster fresh food (i.e. less overall requirement for refrigeration) and replaces the cupboard-like traditional refrigerator with high tech: induction shelves that cool individual insulated containers through their base; and low tech: naturally cool terra-cotta containers store potatoes, garlic and other cool zone vegetables. Parkour I am a massive fan of Navi Radjou's book Frugal Innovation . Chapter 6 is dedicated to co-creating value with the "prosumer", a radical concept that goes something like this: Classic retailer : "let's give the customer what we know is best for them" Enlightened retailer ( maybe by an empathy interview or two):" let's give the customer what we observe they need" Parkour retailer : Embrace the customer as "inhabitant" and "co-creator". Working with Quirky, French retailer Auchan developed four customer ideas out of the 800 submitted, firmly embedding the customers into the company's value chain. Quirky remains one of my favorite Adventurous Thinking sites - a brilliant way to get involved in sharing ideas with other catalysts across the world. My Rainwater HOG is another Parkour product. Conventional rainwater storage design uses big, round, cheap tanks installed by contractors. HOGs are small, rectangular Do-It-Yourself modules that decentralize rain catchment and make installation faster & less expensive. LET'S BE BUDDIES |
Thought Bites October 2016 | |
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A geode is an incredible thing: all crusty rock on the outside and unexpected wonder when cracked open.
We all have this potential to yield up unexpected brilliance, it just takes the right tools. I recently returned from working with curious, enthusiastic Year 11 Australian students and their Design Technology mentors to unearth and unfold innovative designs using some of the Adventurous Thinking lenses. It was a reminder that the tools are easy and the results are immediate. Remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed and need a silver lining, look inward to optimize the non-expert parts of your brain. Here are a couple of Five Lenses case studies to get you thinking!
Sally Dominguez. Multifarian, Contrarian, Catalyst
| |
 Click the image above for a great article on Defensive Architecture. |
Did you know those uncomfortable bench dividers, angled bollards and anti-skateboard rivets have a name? It is a deliberate design genre known as "Defensive Architecture".
Defending "public" spaces from the homeless and the skaters is a growing phenomenon. This is a darker aspect of Negative Space: not only the spaces when they are NOT used by the public (read, paying public) but also the concept of the users who are NOT wanted in society.
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Artist Sara Hegden has a leisure suit for every negative public space | |
Thinking Sideways
Lovers of silence may find it ironic that new US laws require whisper-quiet electric and alternative fuel vehicles to make noise by September 2018. After all, so much attention has been traditionally focused on muffling the sound of car engines. Studies on sound cannot agree: some OH&S studies suggest ambient noise increases general stress levels and may inhibit dopamine production, while others demonstrate background music can sooth, increase sales, increase accuracy, change the speed at which we move and enhance innovation. With apologies to Charles de Gaulle, silence may not always be the ultimate weapon of power.
An interesting link to read: Group Work Can Harm Memory
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|
Biomimicry, the application of plant and animal attributes to human systems and products. | |
| |
|
I interviewed IKEA's Head of Design Marcus Engman in Hong Kong late 2014. A terrific speaker, Engman emphasized that IKEA's core value is "affordable, not cheap" and very much design-focused. | |
|
What you see on the left is not mere pegboard shelving but a sophisticated ReThink of.....a refrigerator. ConceptKitchen2025 assumes less meat consumption, faster fresh food (i.e. less overall requirement for refrigeration) and replaces the cupboard-like traditional refrigerator with high tech: induction shelves that cool individual insulated containers through their base; and low tech: naturally cool terra-cotta containers store potatoes, garlic and other cool zone vegetables. | |
| |
|
I am a massive fan of Navi Radjou's book Frugal Innovation. Chapter 6 is dedicated to co-creating value with the "prosumer", a radical concept that goes something like this:
Classic retailer: "let's give the customer what we know is best for them"
Enlightened retailer (maybe by an empathy interview or two):" let's give the customer what we observe they need"
Parkour retailer: Embrace the customer as "inhabitant" and "co-creator".
Working with Quirky, French retailer Auchan developed four customer ideas out of the 800 submitted, firmly embedding the customers into the company's value chain. Quirky remains one of my favorite Adventurous Thinking sites - a brilliant way to get involved in sharing ideas with other catalysts across the world.
| |
My Rainwater HOG is another Parkour product. Conventional rainwater storage design uses big, round, cheap tanks installed by contractors. HOGs are small, rectangular Do-It-Yourself modules that decentralize rain catchment and make installation faster & less expensive. | | |
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