Creativity exercise - week 1

    Hey y’all, welcome back to another weekly blog. This time around, I wanted to play with a creativity exercise called the SCAMPER method. Since it’s a long process, I kept it simple and focused only on the first two steps for this week: Substitute and Combine. Even with just those two, it really pushed me to think differently about something I see every day.
    I picked a pretty basic idea, a regular backpack. Nothing complex or crazy, just the one thing most people carry around without thinking twice. The cool part about SCAMPER is that it forces you to break your regular way of thinking. Instead of just accepting the backpack for what it is.

With Substitute, I began imagining what parts of a backpack could be replaced. What if, instead of regular straps, it used some type of molded shoulder padding that adjusts itself automatically like a mech? Or if the fabric wasn’t fabric at all, but something waterproof and self-cleaning, so you don’t have to constantly wipe it down. It made me realize how much of design is really about questioning the defaults we take for granted.
    Then, with Combine, things got even more interesting. I started thinking about what other items or ideas could merge with a backpack. What if it were combined with a portable charging dock so your devices never die throughout the day? Or what if it fused with a mini organizer system, kind of like having your desk built into your bag, just lugging it around. It reminded me how new ideas can literally come from just smashing two unrelated things together and seeing what happens.

Even though SCAMPER has seven parts, just using these first two has already opened up my thinking way more than I expected. Next week, I’ll continue with the next steps: Adapt, Modify, and Put to another use, and see what else I can reshape out of something so normal. 
    But I hope you guys enjoyed this creativity exercise, and had as much fun as I did! But like always, I'll have to see you guys next week, so till then. I'll see you guys on the next one! 👋


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