IED Activity 1.4: Product Improvement

Introduction

Hummers^®, iPods^®, cell phones, clothes, and video games are just a few products that are familiar to most people. What is it about any of these products that you like? What causes you to want to buy a cell phone or an IPod? Is it the commercials or the appearance of the product? Whatever the reason, design plays a vital role in the creation and marketing of any product.

Equipment

·         Paper

·         Plain white coffee cup (1 per class) OR alternate consumer product

·         Pencil

Procedure

This activity is designed to provide an introduction to design. As a team of two, you will brainstorm ways to enhance or change a plain white beverage container so that nearly every consumer would want to purchase it. Remember to apply the rules for brainstorming that were identified in the PowerPoint during this activity. The following list is available to guide your team through this activity:

·         Assign a recorder and a speaker for your group.

·         Brainstorm for five minutes with your team to identify enhancements or changes that you would make to the item. The recorder will make a list of all ideas mentioned in those five minutes. Changes or enhancements could be anything; you are not limited by cost.

·         After five minutes, select ideas to enhance or change the item from the brainstorming list.

·         For the next ten minutes, each member of the team should develop and sketch a potential change or enhancement to your product.

·         Your team will take five additional minutes to develop a justification for each potential change to the item.

·         Your team speaker will present your changes to the class.

     Located above is an image snapped out of my engineering journal. The list on the left side is a list that I and my partner, Sarah, brainstormed. It was a list of problems we both thought constantly occurred with everyday cups/water bottles that should be remedied immediately.

     On the right is merely a paragraph in a box summing up generally what our cup/water bottle would be about (including details on what made it different from other cups/water bottles).

     Located below is a sketch of what our cup/water bottle would look like, if we had the time and resourses to create a prototype. The larger view on the left is a zoomed out view of the whole cup/water bottle, along with annotations for the additional functions. in the upper left, there is a smaller sketch of what the back view would look like and the three boxes in the bottom left are of the specialized lid of the cup/water bottle and what alterations we made to it.