After feeding her, I began my mind map. Please feel free to explore this map, below.
After I had finished my mind map, I selected several ideas that interested me the most.
I was originally drawn to the sub-themes of: Food/Health/fitness, and the challenge of surviving Minnesota's harsh winters.
I am interested in food because I believe that the food choices we make each day have a long-term impact upon our health, as well as the health of the natural environment.
Although many of us are aware that we should be eating more fresh vegetables, in practice this is not always easy; especially given the availability of campus dining options, as well as the convenience and "enhanced" flavors of processed foods. Also, many college students are living on their own for the first time and do not know how to cook well. I wanted to develop a simple solution that would automatically produce fresh leafy greens that wouldn't languish and rot in the back of a mini-fridge. Salads are one of the easiest ways to eat raw leafy greens and preparing them would not require any special utensils or cooking appliances. So, here's a rough sketch of a student salad-grow-box.
The plastic sides would be clear to let natural sunlight in. I also placed LED's on the top to aid the growth rate. While contemplating the LED's, I made a connection to Minnesota's winters. I thought about my Minnesota winter experiences and how dark and overcast the weather gets. This got me thinking about "seasonal affectiveness disorder" and I figured I could make an ultra-bright LED light to help students produce some vitamin D. This portable light could also be flashed in one's face to help students stay awake while studying for final exams - or it could be programmed to gradually increase in brightness with the rising of the sun to help students get up for their early morning classes.
Continuing along this vein of helping
students survive Minnesota Winters, I started to think about my experiences as a winter biker.
I think there is a lack of products designed for the average Minnesota winter biker. My first thought was to protect the nose, which in my experience, is usually left unprotected to freeze and face the relentless icy wind. My nose cover idea would slip over the ears and stay snugly in place. A vent below the nostrils would allow for easy breathing.
My next idea came out of my winter experiences as well. I thought it would be useful to have a set of spikes one could screw into the soles of shoes to prevent pedestrian ice slippage - like those on soccer cleats.
This evolved to a similar idea for bike tires.
Thinking more about the icy wind I will soon have to face while on my bike got me thinking of another pedestrian safety product. I envisioned a whistle that could be mounted on a bike's handlebars that would emit a piercing sound to warn pedestrians of an oncoming bicyclist.
I didn't want to be too biased towards bikers, however, so I also designed a set of skis that longboarders could attach to their wheels and continue to use their preferred transportation method all year long in Minnesota!
Lastly, I took the Meyers Briggs test and my "typology" is INTP
Hey JCron!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, how adorable is Karen?! I am impressed you remembered to feed her amidst the brainwaves that flooded your head with these awesome ideas. I wish you would have used more color in your mind map though, so I could better visualize the thought process behind them.
I appreciated the commentary behind your choice in themes, and also that you decided to design items that related to you as a consumer. That being said, I would love to have seen more ideas associated with the Food/Healthy-Living theme.
Overall nice post this week! I could definitely use one of those student grow boxes in my apartment, and think it's a brilliant idea for college students who generally wouldn't be eating fresh vegetables. For future reference, the bold emphasizing was nice when changing subjects, but maybe keep it to the first line. When it was used throughout the description, it got confusing.
Joe, I am also a fan of Karen. I like how practical your ideas are, especially the winter sub-theme given our having to live through harsh winters. I think you've got really solid sub-themes. I wish you had been a little more bold in your sketches/ideas, though. It's good that all those ideas are practical and feasible, but sometimes its interesting and creativity-generating to see more fantastical ideas. I think it would also be interesting to continue exploring transportation modifications and look at other modes of transportation that could be winterized; rollerblades, mopeds, scooters, etc.
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