structure

Structured Ideation

My original course theme was "Healthy Living." I have modified my problem statement. It is now a combination and elaboration of my original two, which were:

1.) How might we cook a healthy, non-boring meal at the end of the day that doesn't take a lot of time/energy? 

2.) How might we avoid excessive packaging and the need to carry around tupperware containers for our fresh food throughout the day. 

The problem statement I am working with moving forward from here, is:

How might we get people to eat more fresh vegetables?

Archetypal Product: Most people don’t live in a rural area or have access to quality green spaces. The most common interaction that people have with plants (especially during Minnesota winters) is when they eat them (if they eat them at all). I chose an archetypal product which currently allows people to experience a direct connection to plants and fresh vegetables by allowing them to grow their own. This is, of course, the simple potted plant.

The Simple Pot. Agrarian-age archetypal. Some have drainage holes underneath, some do not.

SCAMPER: I applied the structured ideation technique, SCAMPER, to this archetypal product to see where this design could be improved upon in modern times. Below are my structured lists and seven new product sketches. 

Substitute:

Substitution list

From this list I selected my substitution idea of "growing in something other than soil." Hydroponics is the obvious solution, but I wanted to develop something entirely new. The idea I had was to grow in something that would be porous enough to hold water while allowing the roots to breathe and retaining moisture for an extended period of time. I came up with “The Root Sponge". I envisioned that the pores of this spongey material could be engineered and structured in such a way as to coax the roots to grow in specific patterns that could theoretically increase the productivity of the entire plant.

The "Root Sponge"

Combine: I contemplated the archetypal potted plant some more, considering what features I could combine in order to solve potential problems that people might experience when growing their own plants. From this list, I chose the idea of attaching a coffee mug handle to a plant pot. This would allow for easier carrying of the plant, and would make the process of watering more convenient - simply hold the mug/pot under the faucet as if you were filling a regular glass of water. Additionally, this item would free up clutter around the house and in cabinets. Rather than having another random clay pot lying around when your plant is harvested, put it to another good use, as a drinking cup!

Combine List

The Pot-Cup is essentially just a mug. A small opening at the bottom can be plugged for drinking purposes or removed to allow for proper soil drainage when growing a plant.

The pot-cup-mug

Adapt: for this brainstorming exercise, I considered the ways that the archetypal plant growth process could be combined with emerging technologies and other existing products. For instance, I considered genetic technologies, but worried that the general public might consider these too controversial. I then thought about applying Henry Ford's classic assembly-line to the process of growing a plant, robotically. My favorite idea however, was to "Gamify growing." I wanted to make the process of growing a plant more interactive and fun so that people would actually take care of their plants and feel a genuine connection to what they are growing. I envisioned a "chia pet" at first, but then thought about applying electronics as a means of providing feedback to the user.

Adapt list

This resulted in the conception of a "Pot Pal"which would incorporate electronic sensors to interpret the growing conditions and display an emoticon based upon how happy the plant is.

The Pot Pal!

Maximize/magnify/Minimize: For this section, I considered things like concentrating the suns rays with a magnifying glass, changing the size and shape of the pot itself, changing the location of the plant for easier access, and magnifying the prominence of the foliage and roots. This idea of maximizing roots resulted in the idea that I selected for this section. I envisioned a clear plastic pot with a sliding door which would allow people to safely examine the roots and determine how well their plant is doing. This would "maximize the root experience" of growing a plant. A product like this would be an informational gauge as to when a plant will need repotting and could also be a fun and educational tool for teaching children about plant growth and the importance of plant roots.

Magnify/modify/minimize/maximize list

I dubbed this, "The Remember Your Roots Pot."

Remember your "roots, shoots, and leaves." 

Put to Other Use:

For this section, I considered putting plants to other non-conventional uses. For instance, I thought of genetically engineering a vegetable which would have a stringy stalk that one could use as floss after a meal, making the growing medium edible, making the entire pot biodegradable, engineering the plant into a bioreactor to grow your own medicines, making the plant change color in response to touch, playing music to the plant/using the plant itself as a musical instrument, thought about how it would be possible to grow root vegetables hydroponically, and then I came up with the idea of growing your own lampshade! This is an elaboration of an idea on my Magnify/Modify/Minimize page in which I considered growing a houseplant on a trellis near a window so that the plant would cover the trellis and become a living decoration.

Putting plants to other uses

Eliminate: I thought about eliminating the exposed topsoil of a potted plant because this is where weeds sprout and choke out intended growth. I even considered removing the roots altogether and directly injecting the plant with the nutrients that it needs, however this seemed impractical, unmarketable, and too much like science fiction. I eventually settled upon the idea of eliminating the need for using a cutting device to harvest your plant by sharpening the edge of the pot and applying a food-safe coating so that the pot itself could be used to grow and then snip the plant. 

The Grow and Snip Pot

Reverse/Rearrange: For this section, I considered changing the orientation of the plant. A plants roots will always grow down towards gravity, so flipping the plant upside down was impractical. Vertical farming is popular in indoor urban agriculture because it maximizes growing space. I considered growing vertically as a good option for reverse/rearrange. I then had the idea of changing the position of the light in relation to the plants. This idea culminated in a "Dyson Garden" in which a series of plants could be arrayed around a light like Freeman Dyson's theoretical Dyson Sphere in which an advanced civilization could conceivably construct a massive sphere around a star in order to maximize solar-panel surface area for the collection of 100% of a star's energy output. In my design, the potted plants would need to be slowly rotated to ensure even coverage of light to all leaves. 

Reverse/rearrange list with Dyson Garden Sketch

What the heck is a "Dyson Sphere"? ---> 

A new, Modern Archetype?

These ideas really got me thinking about plants, but I felt that the ancient archetypal potted plant had been exhausted. So, I applied my table-based ideation to another, more modern archetypal product known as the "Aero Garden." What the heck is an Aero Garden? Check out Miracle Grow's informational video advertisement, below. 

There are several different models of this product, but they all share several fundamental functional elements. Here is my list of the Aero Garden's most important features:

Listing features of Miracle Grow's Aero Garden

Table-Based ideation: I then selected the most important morphological features of the Aero Garden and charted them on a table with a few sketches. I consider the product's adjustable light height, growing condition feedback, and open access to the growing area to be among its top strengths. However, there are many other ways to accomplish the same functional requirement. 

Morphological Analysis of the Aero Garden

As you can see, this structured ideation was also fruitful. I circled my favorite alternative ideas and sketched two of these potential improvements.

Glass enclosure on a growing device.

I envisioned this enclosure being able to take advantage of the free energy from the sun as well as being supplemented by artificial light. To prevent the lights from becoming annoying at night, the clear glass would incorporate a "micro electronic blind" system that would block the light when darkness in the room is wanted. 

My motorized light adjustment system would allow plants of varying heights to be grown. This would also allow the enclosure to take advantage of the physical fact that light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. By actively adjusting as a plant grows, maximum light penetration can be achieved through all stages of a plant's life. 

Motorized light heigh adjustment system

Blue Sky Review: The Krohnie Family didn't come up with too many great product ideas. Most of their ideas consisted of healthy food combinations. Perhaps the "pemmican" idea could be expanded into a modern form using dried fruit, nuts, and granola in place of animal fat and berries. The "yummatrix smoothie" was a vitamin enriched protein shake with vanilla ice-cream base. It could be made healthier by substituting frozen yogurt, perhaps. Their most creative idea was the "health-o-matic 2000", though it would be hard to implement in its original form. It was described as being "a refrigerated machine that would be filled with different kinds of fruits and vegetables that can be dispensed in different forms, chopped, steamed, chilled, etc, with the press of a button onto the dish of your choice." In order to make this into an actual product, I considered combining this with the ubiquitous household fridge. Instead of opening your refrigerator to get milk, for instance, the gallon jug would be inserted onto an internal device that would puncture the seal and port the cold milk through the door via a series of tubes so that it can be dispensed into your bowl of cereal without needing to even open the door. Also, these are devices that would likely need to be certified by the FDA in order to be widely implemented. 

10 Best Ideas: Here is my final list of my ten best ideas from all weeks.