#prduct

Get laughing till you silly make your heart go beep beep..

So I happened to be invited to a game-night event this weekend, which was perfect timing for this assignment. It was a ton of fun and i got to meet some really funny people. Yet for some reason I kept thinking to myself about the process of "getting in a silly/creative" mood, which made it harder than I imagined for to make it happen. I though of a metaphor that I ended up applying on myself- what if your mind is a sink....then water could symbolize your thoughts....well finding inner peace is a bit like pulling the plug on a sink full of water.Thus letting all your troubles, distractions, and so called "problems" wash away. I started thinking of all the possibilities that could support this idea and eventually I got there...

Start mind mapping...

Friday-Started a mind map (sink/basin theme) Saturday-Continued mind mapping and started a cross-products list. To do this I searched for a list of random products online and then used them with the sink/basin theme to come up with comical products. I found that this technique worked very well to think of silly ideas. Sunday-Made association map to finish brainstorming and used it to help finish the mind map and cross-product list.

Final Mind Map-

I do not think I used the mind map as intended. Some of the branches ended up in different themes, but most of them were very closely related to the sink/basin theme. I will definitely work on my mind mapping in the future to help find the strange connections. In addition, it was really hard for me to not elaborate the new themes into product ideas versus continue branching out.

A few interesting themes I discovered were food and entertainment. The food theme was associated through the appearance of a sink looking like a bowl and entertainment branched off from the idea of kids hating getting ready for bed and finding a way to change that.

Step 3: Silly ideas are GOOD! Final Cross-products List-

This allowed for some very fun combinations that could have never come about otherwise. One that I particularly liked was the drain speaker. When thinking about a sink/basin and relating it to a speaker I realized that a drain and speaker both looked similar in their appearance. Even though normally speakers and water do not tend to be put together, this forced combination made an interesting product. Final Association Map-

I wish I would have done this map first. I did not realize all of the sink/basin areas I was missing until the end. For one thing, until I made this map I did not even think about sinks not in the bathroom or kitchen. Branching out to the areas like the garage and laundry room made many more connections surface.

List of 10 Silly Ideas for sink/basin theme (no particular order):

IDEA 1: Snow shovel spatula/food server- for those Minnesota winter-lovers

IDEA 2: Toothbrush shoe- a comical toothbrush holder

IDEA 3: Urinal sink- Only to wash hands

IDEA 4: Speaker drain plug-To confuse people when the drain is actually plugged by making gurgling noises

IDEA 5: Chocolate bar soap- Individual soap chunks to reduce spread of germs

IDEA 6: Spoon make-up spreader- Spread around your foundation with ease

IDEA 7: Bathroom clock- 'The Potty Clock', can time your bathroom tasks to make sure you stay on time

IDEA 8: Sink sheet- Plastic coating in sink to prevent stains (dishwasher-safe)

IDEA 9: Track sink- Can move your sink around to easily share with siblings