Creativity Exercise - week 3

 

    Welcome back y'all! To my weekly creativity blog, this week, we’re continuing our SCAMPER journey with the same object we’ve been exploring from the start: the backpack. It’s funny how something so ordinary can keep giving us new ways to stretch our thinking, but that’s exactly why this exercise works. Every step makes you slow down, pay attention, and see things that usually blur into the background.
    For this entry, we’re focusing on Eliminate a step that sounds simple at first, but ends up revealing more than you expect. There’s something interesting about looking at an object and intentionally asking, “What does this not need?” It forces you to rethink its purpose at the most basic level.

When you picture a typical backpack, you probably think of pockets, zippers, straps, compartment and all the usual features that we usually don't ask any questions about. But this week’s exercise asks us to do exactly that: question them.

As I sat with the idea, I started imagining what the backpack becomes when pieces of it disappear:

• What happens if the small pockets are gone?
  Does the backpack turn into a clean, open space almost like a tote bag kind of feel?

• What if we eliminate zippers entirely?
  Suddenly you’re thinking roll-top closures, magnetic folds, or something that shifts the whole way you look the thing.

• What if the thick padded structure disappears?
  Now we’re in the world of foldable, packable carry systems that mold to whatever you put inside.

• And what if we remove the concept of back in “backpack”?
  Maybe it becomes something that sits on the front of the body, or the side, or attaches in a way that doesn’t use usual straps at all.

    Elimination pushes you to reconsider the default. It makes you ask why features exist in the first place, and what happens when they’re no longer there. Sometimes removing something reveals much more than adding ever could.
    After this week, I've realized that “Eliminate” is less about subtraction and more about clarity. When you strip away the clutter, you start to see the heart of an idea. With the backpack, this simple step invites you to understand what really matters about the object and maybe even about the way you design in general. Its more of a personal, or even deeper way of looking at things, but its just the way I feel after this week.