101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

132 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. http://www.pfeiffer.com

Ideas in a Box Handout

Suppose you are director of packaging design for Snafu Snack Food Company. Sales of

your Cheesy Chunk Crackers have been slipping. Market research indicates supermarket

consumers consider two criteria when buying cheese cracker products: (1) ability of the

package to catch their eyes and (2) value-added or unique features.

You have been directed to redesign the current box to emphasize value-added fea-

tures. Your boss gives you free rein to make changes, so you decide to use Ideas in a Box

to help spark ideas. You set up a matrix as shown in Table 6.1.

Container Shapes Container Materials

Cylindrical Cardboard

Spherical Plastic

Rectangular Metal

Pyramidal Combinations

Types of Closures Lining Materials

Ziploc® Wax paper

Clips Aluminum foil

Adhesive Regular paper

Screw cap Cellophane

Table 6.1. Ideas in a Box Matrix

Next, select one subattribute from each column. For instance, you might design a

cylindrical package made of plastic with a screw top and an aluminum foil lining. Or you

might select a spherical container made of combinations of materials with clips for clo-

sures and a cellophane lining. You get the idea. Although Ideas in a Box may not always

prompt unique ideas, it will help you search systematically for possible combinations.

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