Exercise: Project IdeationΒΆ

Objective: generate a brainstorm list of project ideas.

This ideation exercise is intended to generate and share an abundance of potential project ideas related to physical computing.

  1. Please consider all the themes we will be exploring through physical computing: human needs for expression, communication, life support, and pleasure; embodiment, measurement, time, signals, and algorithm; and the nature of processes which flow from physical to digital forms and back.
  2. Come up with thirty ideas for projects which address the themes above. When devising ideas, consider holding back your presumptions about what is or is not possible technically: at this stage we encourage broad, unbounded thinking.
  3. Bring your ideas to class on a physical printout following these rules:
    • all ideas on a single 8.5” x 11” piece of paper
    • one line per idea
    • number the lines
    • leave a 2-inch margin on the left hand side

The physical format is very important as we will be passing around and reviewing idea lists in class.

Some general heuristics for brainstorming success can be found in the Ideation and Brainstorming resource section. For inspiring examples, see Related Work for starting points.