New Inventions - How To Dream Them Up
How do you dream up ideas for new inventions? Use
any of the many excellent idea-creation techniques.
One of the easiest is the use of a modifying-word
list.
Several
times now I have seen giant chairs. The most recent
one was in a bar, being used by the host
of a trivia contest. It was eight feet tall. Someone
made and sold that chair, but how did he think of
the idea? The simplest way would be to look at things
and ask "what if it was bigger?"
That
is the essence of the modifying word list. You
look at things and ask, "What if it was..." and
insert a word from the list to stimulate ideas for
new inventions. To show the technique in action,
I just looked around the room and chose a table as
a test subject. I look at the word list and ask "What
if it was..."
Bigger: If it had leaves that spread from a central
pivot, it could be opened up easily into a larger
surface, like a hand fan opened horizontally.
Movable: The obvious idea here is to put wheels
on it. Another possibility is a line of super light
tables that can be carried from room to room easily.
Cheaper: I once used an old door as a table. Are
there cheap and available materials that could be
used to make doors?
Interesting: Make tables that are covered in family
photos (or anything else you want). The top would
then be encased in acrylic. Easy to clean too!
Divided: Four small tables that can be used on their
own or connected into one large table?
Subtracted from: Take away the legs and it would
be easier to clean under. Could it hang from the
ceiling?
Hotter: A warming tray built into the center of
the table might be convenient for keeping meals hot.
Happier: Use colors that evoke positive emotions.
Make cartoon-covered tables for day-care centers.
Take
notes as you do this, and develop or discard the
ideas later. Most words won't give you useful
ideas, but don't dismiss them without a few seconds
of thought. Creative solutions can begin with unrelated
thoughts. "What if it was boring?" may
seem useless, but then it could lead to the development
of a line of furniture based purely on function:
simple and cheap.
Article
continues below
Words For New Inventions
You can make your own list for this technique. Generally
it will need a lot of adjectives, but any words that
have the potential to change your perspective can
work. You may want to include some of the following.
What if it was... larger... smaller... farther away...
closer... sooner... later... easier... more difficult...
softer... harder... poorer... richer... wetter...
drier... higher... lower... longer... shorter...
certain... uncertain... newer... older... divided...
combined... more common... less common... faster...
slower... better... worse... hotter... colder...
added to... subtracted from... left alone... hopeless...
imaginary... cheaper... more expensive?
Take notes as you do this exercise,
and give each word a few seconds of thought.
Creative solutions
can begin with unrelated thoughts. "What if
it was hopeless?" may seem useless, if you
are looking for new inventions to replace existing
shopping
carts, but it could also make you look beyond ways
for customers to gather their groceries. Maybe
an invention to bring the groceries to the customer
would be more radical and marketable.
by Steve
Gillman
