Today we are going to do something different. Instead of just exploring the world for Insights we are going to actually change it. Today we are playing with the Next Gen Prism and the Twins Seed.
With the Next Gen Prism, your goal is to redesign an everyday object or device while using the Seed as inspiration. For this challenge I’ve picked the Twins Seed.
Don’t necessarily look for a way to improve the object. Just re-imagine it. Go wild. Even if your design is not feasible, don’t hold back. Make sure to have fun!
Here’s what I did playing today’s challenge. For obvious reasons, the object I thought of when I picked this Prism was a Keyboard. So, what would make a nice evolution or takeoff on a keyboard?
I started playing with the Seed and thinking how it could inspire me to change something (or everything) about the standard keyboard most of us are using. My first thought was adding a key (like Shift or Ctrl) that when pressed together with another key will duplicate its output. So, when pressing dup+e you will be typing ‘ee’. Why is that handy? Because if you are not a fast typist, it will make all those words with double letters easier to type. And if you do type fast, this will help to prevent all those times when you intend to type a double letter and get three instances instead. The ‘dup’ key gives you more control over the result and fewer errors.
Is this practical or effective? I don’t know, and I am not going to actually build a prototype and put it to the test. The point of this game is to free ourselves from what we know about everyday objects or devices and let our imagination take us elsewhere.
But I wasn’t really satisfied with my double-key-keyboard idea, so I’ve started my day with the Seed and a mental image of a keyboard. Somewhere during the day, without really intending to, the concept of the keyboard-for-two popped into my mind.
Introducing the Twin-Keyboard! Specially designed for creating together. Perfect for co-authors of books, Software Developers practicing eXtreme Programming, and any other co-working scenario. Instead of moving a single keyboard from one author to another, both authors have the same level of control over what’s being typed on the screen.
Is it useful? Well, in theory. Can’t you achieve the same by merely having two keyboards? Most likely. Will such a product ever see the light of day? Probably not. But all this does not matter. I just came up with an original idea (hopefully) based on nothing more than a random trigger and my imagination. And that’s the essence of creativity.
In the real world, this idea is worthless until proven otherwise by feasibility tests, market research, usability review, etc. But today we are practicing the purest form of ideation. Let’s leave the reality check for a different occasion.
So, pick an object and try to re-imagine it using the Twin Seed. Don’t go necessarily for the default option of duplicating it. Think differently. Let your imagination lead the way. Be creative!