DT Individual Project Ideation Stage: Brainstorming

According to Michelle during our first DT project:

The goal isn’t a perfect idea. It’s lots of ideas, collaboration, and openness to wild solutions. The last thing you want in a brainstorm is someone who, instead of coming up with ideas, only talks about why the ones already mentioned won’t work. Not only does that kill creativity, but it shifts the group’s mindset from a generative one to a critical one. The only way to get to good ideas is to have lots to choose from.

In order to generate as many ‘original’ ideas as possible, I refrained from doing research on what was already out there in regard to Brisbane City waste bins though I was already aware of some of the city council’s efforts (e.g. the phone app as well as the current labeling of the bins).

For our initial DT project, were asked to ideate based on three specific constraints. For this individual project, I did the same but altered the constraints slightly. These were:

1. Million Dollar Ideas (Expensive but doable ideas)

2. Really Weird Ideas (The name says it all!)

3. Budget Friendly Ideas (Most economical and doable)

Here are the ideas I was able to generate:

Following Michelle's suggested process, I then proceeded to whittle down the ideas to the following (Q,B,D Ideas):

Q: THE 2 IDEAS THAT ARE IMPACTFUL, BUT QUICK TO CREATE OR IMPLEMENT

B: THE 2 IDEAS THAT ARE UNLIKELY TO WORK, BUT MOST BREAKTHROUGH IF IT DID

D: THE 2 IDEAS THAT IS MOST LIKELY TO DELIGHT THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM WE ARE DESIGNING

Q Ideas:

1. Bins that help or encourage others to recycle

2. Better labels (inclusive of colour and wording consistency as better information design)

B Ideas:

1. Bins that give our vouchers a la Reverse Vending Machines

2. Bins with wash and rinse areas and/or sanitizers

D Ideas:

1. Interactive bins

2. Bins linked to the BCC app

Final Pick:

All things considered, I decided to go with Q1 and Q2 since it's safe to assume that the most simple and economical would be the most likely to gain the most support from the users and implementers.