Is this a stupid idea?

Hear me out on a concept I’ve come up with.

I want to design a solution that increases the creativity of a designer, artist, songwriter, poet, whatever.

A couple things that I’ve read about that can boost creativity is to take yourself to an unfamiliar place and ideate there. It’s a pretty common technique to place yourself in a new element and out of your comfort zone to boost brain activity.
In addition, hearty, healthful food is a great mind booster, whereas distractions such as technology harm creativity.

I was considering developing a product of sorts that allows you to take a healthful, hearty snack and drink, a sketchbook, a pen, and that’s it.

The advantage over packing a normal backpack with a sketchbook, pen, etc. is that I would make this simpler than a backpack and lunchbox, this would save on weight as the use of this product would be so specific and isolate all distractions. The purpose of this product is to really create zero distraction and enhance your creativity.

You can grab this product, walk, bike, take a train, bus, car, wherever, go adventure, find a spot, get a bite, and sketch.

Is it really better than a small backpack? It feels a bit like a solution searching for a problem. It might be great as a lifehack object you build for yourself though!

I’m in the camp of, there are no stupid ideas.

Step back from your solution for a minute. Is it really a matter of convenience that increase your creativity? Would a purse do that?

I feel as though this isn’t a product of convenience, but a product of creating and enabling new and exciting experiences. It would be more convenient to carry a backpack as what you carry would be more flexible, but with this product, it would force you to take away all distractions and leave you with just the essentials of creativity. Good food, a sketchbook, and the ability to go anywhere you want.

Still not strong concept?

yo, I can certainly see your point. Let me know if this description changed your mind at all.

The idea is nice, but I’m not sure if there is a product in it. The reason I say this is I and many others always have a sketch book on the go, so if I’m going out, that’s what I’ll take with me. The next thing is on my way to where ever I decide, I’ll pick up a pack of sandwiches etc from a shop and with lots of places these come with a free bottle of water. This way, I know what I have is fresh, I still haven’t had to make it myself, there is lots of choice depending on my mood and there is very little packaging. Your current idea will have a shelf life problem and won’t allow consumer choice, vegetarian, vegan, nut allergies etc. for me something like a cereal bar won’t cut it for a whole day but someone else may be happy with this - how will you determine portion size? There is a lot to consider.

The other thing I find is that if I need to boost creativity, the best way is to lock my self away in a calm room with no distractions. So I can really focus on the problem. Not to go on a trip to somewhere new and exciting and distracting. If you google the ostrich wearable pillow for the office, this would be a product that for me would better solve what you are trying to do as it would allow me to switch off the outside world without leaving my desk.

I think you need to do more research into the problem prior to coming up with a solution. I think there are lots of phases to creativity to consider - inspiration which would be going to places looking around, trying new things and then creativity, which is sitting still and getting it from your mind on to paper or tablet. If I wasn’t going down the dark shades and headphones shutting out the world route, maybe look at the inspiration side. But either way I think it will be difficult to create a really good product from this, but I have been wrong many times.

I agree that it sounds like a solution searching for a problem.

Your very first sentence interests me, it could be a very intriguing project brief depending on the direction you take it.

The second part where you introduce some sort of packaging for convenience sounds like an entirely different project brief.
One is blue-sky, the other is zoned in already on a container of sorts.

My roommate was in Illustration last year and would go on 5+ trips a week discovering new places to sketch in San Francisco. I remember seeing him bright red, huffing and puffing at the end of the day as he dropped his 50 pound backpack to the floor. How do you make his experience better?

Either way I think there’s potential in both, but I’m a big believer in going through the Industrial Design process.

Im not sure how your food & sketchbook will make me or anyone creative. I think you need to dig a little deeper as to what creativity means or what it means to be creative. What sparks creativity, what makes someone want to even create something in the first place? Where does it stem from? Is there something that can spark that process? … Ok so lets say now I’m in creative mode. Now what? So i have all these ideas and my creative juices are flowing… what does the next step in the experience look like? I have a sketchbook in front of me… but do I even know how to draw? How do I get my creativity on paper? How do I express myself? Does your idea help me also to learn how to express my creativity? In sketches, notes, are there any other ways to express it? … I don’t think this is a stupid idea, but I think your approach is wrong. I think you found something that works for you and you are now trying to reason with yourself that this is a problem/solution that would work for others.

Yes. Yes, this is a stupid idea.

A lunchbox… with a pocket?

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Interesting idea and no its not stupid at all. Ideas are meant to be discussed and explored, not to be made guilty about. On a side note, I myself wonder if some artsy students might want a special compartment to spark their own bit of creativity. :smiley: