So I’m continuing my study this week, and our assignments and learning activities this week is about idea development. To come up with new ideas isn’t easy, but we have been introduced to a new method called SCAMPER. The letters in the word stands for:
S – Substitute
C – Combine
A – Adapt
M – Modify og Magnify
P – Put to other use
E – Eliminate
R – Reverse or rearrange
Further down the page you will read more about how I’ve used this method in developing my ideas and how McDonalds have used it in their buisness.
Practical assignment (riddles)
A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car. They fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl offers him a solution that enables him to drive home. What is it?
There can be several answers to this riddle. So I will try to write my thought about this and how it possible got solved. There a many solutions on this, but here are some of them:
- The girl tells him there’s a car dealership around the corner, which would be helpful because he could get four new nuts. Or she offers him a ride to a car dealership.
- The girl is a rental car employee and offers him a rental car.
- The girl thinks he is handsome and calls a mechanic to come and fix it while they go out for luch.
- The girl is a smart one (not blond) and tells him to take of one nut on each other wheel and replace them on the fourth one so he can get new ones later.
Two Russians walk down a street in Moscow. One Russian is the father of the other Russian’s son. How are they related?
Well they are co-parents. Which can mean different things. I guess they have a good relationship when they are walking down the street together, so there hasn’t been a bad breakup there. Though I can’t say if they are married or together as a couple, if the other Russian is the mother or a co-father in this modern world, but the basic relationship between the two of them is that they have a child together, regardless of their romantic relations.
What occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August?
I have been to a lot of quizzes in my life and some of them are tricky and some of them are easy when you just know the answer. This is really a easy question if you know what to think about, so the answer is the letter “U”.
Six drinking glasses stand in a row, with the first three full of water and the next three empty. By handling and moving only one glass at a time, how can you arrange the six glasses so that no full glass stands next to another full glass, and no empty glass stands next to another empty glass? What is the minimum number of moves to solve this puzzle?
I had to think about this. It doesn’t say anything about the fact that you can easily move one glass and pour out the water into another glass, and just put it back and then you have solved the problem in just one move. If you can’t pour out the water you may have to have several moves. The fastest way I come up with has three moves. Below you can see how I came up with my solution.
Research on McDonalds
Research the history of McDonalds and explain which parts of the SCAMPER model are evident in its development onto its current success.
I have tried to look at some things that I mean is evident in its development.
Substitute something
McDonalds took a chance in 1948 and wanted to become more efficient, and substituted waitors, large menus and car hop service, with a self-service drive in and reduced the menu to only nine items .The staple of the menu was the 15 cent hamburger.
Today we can see self-service machines where you enter your order and pay with card and then you pick it up at the counter when it’s ready.
Combine it with something else
The McDonalds have combined a lot of things through the years, They have introduced the drive through, combined with eating inside. They introduced happy meal for kids combined with a toy. This way the kids could be entertained while they ate. They have also created playgrounds for children, the later years you can also find it inside of their restaurant.
Adapt something to it
They introduced fruitbags and other vegetables so they would have a healthier option. They also replaced potato chips with french fries in the earlier years.
The buildings were built to get the message out and they were really easy to notice with the “the golden arches”.
They also created the mascot which would attract families and children to McDonalds.
Modify
They have modified the menu through the years, buildings were more recognisable with the golden arches, or now the big “M” which is the logo.
They also introduced breakfast in their menus.
Put to other uses
McDonalds is used in many different ways today. You can have birthdayparty’s for your children, it’s a good meet up place for youth and they have most importantly used their success on charity. They have opened Ronald McDonald houses (the first one opened in 1974. These provide a place to stay for families with hospitalized children, who are being treated at nearby hospitals and medical facilities.
Eliminate something
They have eliminated a lot of the menu and waitors.
They have reverced a bit without loosing the effeciency they struggeled for, like the menu has grown with more options.
Reverse or Rearrange it
Today McDonalds is concerned about the environment and have introduced recyclable straws made out of paper. Though I don’t know whether it’s a success or not.
Practical assignment (problem solving)
You are given a teaspoon as an object. Now apply each one of the SCAMPER techniques to it and give a brief explanation of what new product comes of this and how it can be marketed.
As you can see below I have used SCAMPER method to develope the teaspoon.
The spoon isn’t really bigger on the drawing, and that’s because this is only the sketch, but I have described that it would be a little bigger. The purpose of that is just that the spoon could easily fit more, but at the same time be suitable for small children.
Today we have something called SPORK. This is a similarity to that, where they combine fork and a spoon, but I’ve created a bit different kind of spork. Maybe I can call it a FOON. You don’t have to turn it up side down for the use of each function and you don’t hurt yourself while using the spoon because the fork folds in when you push the putton, and folds out when you need it – or in other words when you push the button again. This way you can use the fork and spoon when you want without so much mess and activity. This is Perfect for when you are eating dinner with sauce.
You have to design packaging for rice. The packaging has to be different from what is out there in the market. Apply each one of the SCAMPER techniques and do a write‑up on your findings. Then choose the option that you think would work best and do a sketch of what the packaging would look like.
Substitute something
The first thing I thought of was the material of the box or container, which the rice is in. This material is biodegradable and this way I am substituting something and adapting to the environment interests that we see today.
Combine it with something else.
Well, I’ve been frustrated many times when I’m cooking. Not only rice, but honestly I hate cooking, and the more I have to mess making dinner, the more frustrated I become. So I thought of coffee actually. Today everybody is hip and drink coffee out of capsule machines. It’s easy and comes in portions so you don’t have o worry about how much coffee to put in the machine or the coffeecup. Well I wanted to have the same feeling about the rice, so I made the rice come in capsules/small boxes which containe 1dl rice in each. This way you don’t have to bring out a a lot of equipment that have to be washed after. You can just throw them away cause it’s made out of bio degradable paper. There are 6 capsules in the package. You can take out as many as you need to make todays dinner.
Adapt something to it.
As I wrote earlier I’ve taken the idea of capsules and portions to the rice, and this doesn’t just make it easier to have the right measurements, but it will also be of interest to those who have a tight schedule and also are concerned about our environment.
There would also be a possibility to make it more hip, by making a capsule holder, which you can have on the kitchen bench.
I have modified the product using another material, user friendly capsules and also the whole package and the capsules can help preventing the rice to take up so much space in the kitchen. You can of course buy bigger packages which comes with more capsules, or you can buy several packages to store at home.
Put it to some other use.
The box could surely be recycled because of the material, but it can also be reused. The capsules can be used to make small boxes which the kids can paint or decorate as they want. Maybe sow some seed in it and have a small greenhouse out of it.
Eliminate something.
I’ve eliminatet the frustration with all the measurement, and the possibility for environmental damage. And I’ve eliminated the big packaging that takes up to much space in the kitchen.
Reverse or Rearrange it.
As I said earlier you can reuse it for something creative or you can recycle it.
Let's study graphic design - A Reflective Journal 