Lesson video

Hi there, everybody.

My name is Mr. Booth, and welcome to your design and technology lesson for today.

It's great that you could join me.

Today's lesson, we are gonna be looking up bisociation.

Now, you might not have heard of this term, but simply it's just where we take two completely different concepts and we bring them together to make a new concept.

And this is how you could be innovative when you are being creative and thinking about design ideas and avoid design fixation where we focus on one idea.

This is part of the investigate and research high profile event unit.

The outcome today, I want you to use bisociation to create innovative designs.

It's as simple as that.

We have four keywords for you to look out for today.

The first one is design opportunities, a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial.

That's what we're always looking for as designers.

We then have design fixation.

This is where we consider only one or even an existing possibility and that's not great for innovation.

We then have innovative, introducing new ideas.

Very difficult to do when you are designing.

And then, finally, bisociation, the technique of connecting two unrelated concepts to produce a new idea.

Three learning cycles today.

The first one is all about design opportunities.

So let's get started.

When investigating a context, you are searching for a problem to solve.

That's how most of our projects start in design and technology.

Identifying a problem to solve gives a designer an opportunity to start designing a solution for.

a design opportunity is of course a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial.

Quick check for understanding.

A design opportunity is, A, a finished product ready for testing, B, a design idea that has been finalized, or C, a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial?

Pause the video now.

Have a go at this and come back to me when you got your answer.

It is of course C, a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial.

Well done.

Completing tasks like a user journey map, a user profile, interviews, and target market questionnaires will also support identifying a design opportunity when a design opportunity originates from the people in a context.

It's called market pull.

You might have heard of this before.

A market pull happens when the demand of people drives the creation of new products or services.

Quick check for understanding.

A market pull happens, A, when the demand of people drives the creation, B, if a new technology is invented, or C, when business creates demand?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is of course A, when the demand of people drives the creation.

So let's have a look at an example.

Well, one example of a product from market pull is the digital camera.

Now you might look at that digital camera and think, "What on earth is that?

" But actually I remember these when they first came out.

Now customers demanded a camera that didn't require film.

In the old days, what we had to do is we had to develop our film.

You had about 24 pictures that you could take.

And when you took that picture, that was it.

You couldn't change it in any way.

So the market, the customers wanted something different.

They wanted to be able to see those pictures immediately as well on a screen, and they wanted to be able to take a large number of high quality photos, so therefore the digital camera was born.

Context investigations can also include product analysis, materials, and also new technologies research.

When a design opportunity originates from these types of investigations, we call this technology push.

A technology push happens when new inventions or advancements in technology drive the creation of new products or services that we use.

Quick check for understanding, a technology push happens when, A, the demand of people drives it, B, a product is designed based on user feedback, or C, new innovations or advancements in technology drive the creation?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've completed it.

It is of course C, new innovations or advancements in technology drive the creation.

Well done.

An example of a product that originated from technology push is the personal cassette player like the Sony Walkman we have here.

They were one of the first manufacturers to develop these.

The technological development of compact cassette technology and portable audio innovations like the headphones drove Sony to create the Walkman, and it was actually one of their heads of engineering who decided they wanted to create this product.

He wanted to listen to music when he was on long haul flights.

And so the personal cassette player was born.

So now let's look at the wheel used for transportation, and let's go back in time and look at how this is developed.

Now we are gonna start where we've got a wooden wheel probably attached to some kind of cart.

We could go before this, when we used to push things over logs, but let's start at this point, otherwise we're gonna get a little bit too complicated.

And as you can see, this wooden wheel, it's made from planks of timber, and obviously it's been attached to some kind of axle, but it's probably gonna be quite heavy.

Development of this is then we develop spokes.

So as you can see, we've removed a significant amount of material.

So not only have we made it lighter, but we've actually made it easier to turn.

It takes less energy to actually turn this wheel.

What we also realized as well is actually the wood when it's being used on rough surfaces, like the roads that we used to have in the olden days, actually the wheel might get damaged.

So what we've also done is we've actually had an iron tire around the edge of this.

You can imagine actually if you had to sit on that, probably not very comfortable.

And then if we fast forward to today, we've obviously developed materials and technology dramatically.

So we now have an alloy wheel made of a mixture of one or two metal elements, and then we have a rubber tire which has been filled with air to give ourselves more comfort.

That rubber tire also is very robust, so it'll last a long time.

Now the origins of each stage of development can be justified as market pull, technology push, or even both.

Let's have a closer look at what we mean by this.

The first invention of the wheel was made of stone and was used for potter's wheels and millstone.

It wasn't actually used for transport at all.

However, the first wooden wheels were used on carts, as you can see here, being pulled by this ox.

Was this development of the wooden wheel market pull, technology push, or both?

Now I want you to consider this.

So I'm gonna ask you to pause the video here and maybe have a chat with a person next to you and see if you can justify a reason for any of those.

So pause the video now have a chat and come back to me when you think you've got some reasons.

So what did you think?

Well, I'm sure you could justify all three of those.

So let's have a little look at what the Oak pupils came up with.

Well, here we have Andeep.

So let's see what Andeep says.

I can think of reasons for both market pull and technology push Market pull, society required a method of quickly transporting large amounts of heavy goods, mainly for trade and agriculture.

Using the stone wheel as inspiration, carts with wooden wheels were invented to fill the need.

The market pulled that invention through.

But we also have technology push, developments in tools and equipment used to saw large pieces of tree trunk into disks enable these wooden wheels to be produced.

So we've got the technology push aspect there as well.

Well done, Andeep.

Now, Laura is focusing on the wooden spoked cartwheel.

She says, "Market pull.

People needed cars to transport heavy goods.

The solid wooden wheel was heavy, but the spoked wheel reduced its weight whilst maintaining its strength.

" Jacob is now looking at the rubber car wheel.

"Technology push.

Rubber can be vulcanized, which makes it very durable.

This led to the rubber pneumatic tire being invented, and it also made the ride much more comfortable for the users.

" Well done, Jacob and Laura.

So now to your first task.

I would like you to complete the table by adding the market pull or technology push explanation for each example that is missing, and I filled some of these in for you.

So, for example, we've got each stage of the wheel.

We've got the first, which is the wooden wheel.

The market pull, society required a method of quickly transporting large amounts of heavy goods, mainly for trade or agriculture.

I want you to fill in the technology push.

For the wooden spoke cartwheel, I filled in the market pull for you.

It's originated with people using carts and they needed something more lightweight for transporting goods.

But what would the technology push be?

For the rubber wheel, I want you to fill in the market pull, but I filled in the technology push for you.

And this of course is being able to harden natural rubber, vulcanization process, led to the development of the rubber tire.

So fill in the market pull for me.

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answers.

So how did you get on?

Well, your answers could have included these.

So let's look at the first one, the wooden wheel.

The technology push, well, developments in tools and equipment used to saw large pieces of tree trunk into discs enabled these wooden wheels to be produced.

And for the spoked car wheel, the advancement in manufacturing skill, machinery, and equipment to create spoke shapes and hollow circular shapes of the wheel from wood.

Then we have the rubber car wheel, and we wanted the market pull for this.

Society required a more comfortable ride when using transportation.

Wooden wheels would result in a bumpy and uncomfortable journey, so of course we started to look up new materials and processes for that, so the market pulled it through.

Well done.

We're now onto our next learning cycle, which is all about design fixation.

Identifying design opportunities through investigations of the context will support innovative designing.

Innovative designing is creating new and original ideas, something that is new on the market that has not been seen before, or it's such a development of something that's seen before, it seems like new.

Design fixation is the opposite of being innovative.

It's focusing or fixating on one idea or existing ideas that are already in the market, and of course this limits creativity and innovation.

Quick check for understanding.

Innovative designing is A, copying an existing design without any changes.

B, designing with no consideration of user needs, C, creating new and original ideas, or D, creating designs focused on aesthetics.

Pause the video now.

Come back to me when you've got your answers.

Well, it is of course C, it's creating new and original ideas.

That's what we're all striving to do as designers, and it's quite difficult to do.

An example of design fixation is the QWERTY keyboard.

The QWERTY keyboard, which you can see in front of you now, there you go, that design has been like this ever since I've been using computers, which is quite a long time.

But why could this be considered as design fixation?

Pause the video now, have a chat with the person next to you, and come back to me when you've got an answer.

So why do you think this could be considered as design fixation?

Well, let's have a look.

So the QWERTY keyboard was designed in the 1870s to prevent typewriter jams.

You got a nice GIF on the screen there to show you how a typewriter works.

And actually, when they first started developing typewriters, what would happen is the little hammers that would go forward and imprint the ink onto the paper, they would often get jammed, especially for letters that were used regularly that were too close to each other on the keyboard.

So the QWERTY keyboard was invented to prevent that, but the same layout is widely produced and used today, even though there are far more efficient layout alternatives, like the Dvorak, that exists, but we simply don't use it because we use this same method as we've always done.

Now the Dvorak keyboard layout created in 1936, so this is still quite old as well, is designed to be faster, more ergonomic, and more comfortable for the user.

User feedback states it reduces finger movement dramatically.

It helps preventing typing mistakes.

It improves speed and lowers the risks of repetitive strain injuries.

Now, considering we use computers so much in our lives right now, I'm talking to you on a computer, you're probably even watching me on a computer right now as well, wouldn't it be brilliant if we could actually use a keyboard like this?

But you know what, it fills me with dread if you suddenly said, "I had to use that keyboard," because I've been using the QWERTY keyboard ever since I could remember.

But imagine if we started introducing this keyboard at a very young age in primary schools when you started using it.

We could actually improve efficiency of our use of computers.

Interesting, and it certainly would be innovative.

Using the context of a high profile event, an outdoor music festival, that's what we've been using.

Examples of design fixation could include designing products which already exist and have been done many times, such as canvas tents, wooden seating, t-shirts, lanyards, and of course sunglasses.

Now all of this would be design fixation.

Quick check for understanding.

Design fixation is identifying design opportunities through investigations, focusing or fixating on one idea or existing ideas, creating new and original ideas, or refining an idea following feedback.

Pause the video now have a go at this and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is of course B, focusing or fixating on one idea or existing ideas.

Well done.

Being innovative is difficult and our brain's default is to remember what we've already seen.

We often take the path of least resistance.

We can't help it.

It's part of our makeup.

This leads to design fixation when creating ideas, and we've got to try and avoid this.

An example of this is when people are asked to design a chair.

If you think about a chair straight away, your mind is gonna go to what all chairs tend to look like.

People will add the following things, legs, usually four of those, a flat seat, a back rest to lean against, and then some kind of material, probably a timber.

People default to what they already know, which does not leave room for innovation, and you tend to get the same old design.

Being aware of design fixation and allowing your thinking to be more open can lead to innovative design opportunities.

An alternative path for our thinking is to focus on the context, not products within the context.

Seating, which of course would be the context, well, seating plays a crucial role in daily life, serving as a fundamental element of comfort, functionality, and interaction in various environments.

Products within this context, design fixation will be chairs, benches, stools, and recliners.

It's been done before, we know what they are, and our mind will instantly go to what we know.

But design opportunities.

Well, seating for outdoor and indoor environments, posture support seating, adaptable seating, customizable seating, seating for children, or seating for elderly people.

That would give us more scope to be innovative.

So we're now on to task B.

I would like you to complete the table that you can see here by adding examples of design fixations and also design opportunities within each context.

Now I'll fill the first one in for you to give you a help with this.

So the first one we have the context of an outdoor music festival, and examples of design fixations would be seating tents, t-shirts, sunglasses, and lanyards, things that have been done before, and we are fixating on what we already know.

But let's think about some opportunities, some design opportunities.

Well, weather responsive clothing.

I've certainly been to lots of outdoor music festivals and I've got extremely wet with the weather.

We've got eco-friendly waste management, and also we've got things like immersive experiences that could take place.

So lots of those are design opportunities.

We're avoiding fixation and we're gonna try and be innovative.

So I'd like you now to do the same for healthy living, encouraging nature, and an aging population.

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you completed it.

So let's have a look at what your answers could be.

Well, first of all, we had healthy living, and I would say design fixation would be exercise products and water bottles.

You can imagine they have been done time and time again.

But opportunities will be things like wearable technology.

How could we incorporate that into healthy living?

Inclusive exercising products, that'll be interesting as well.

We have encouraging nature.

So, fixation, we've got bird boxes, bug hotels.

See lots of those in different environments.

But if we are looking at design opportunities, it could be educational nature, products, reusing waste to promote nature.

That'd be great.

And then finally, an aging population.

We've got walking aids and warm clothes.

But actually, to think about design opportunities and to be more innovative, we could look at adaptive clothing and even virtual reality.

That'd be interesting, wouldn't it?

We're now onto our final learning cycle bisociation.

Bisociation is the technique of connecting two unrelated concepts or ideas to produce a new innovation.

It's a way of avoiding design fixation, which is of course what we've just been talking about.

Quick check for understanding.

Bisociation is the technique of A, connecting two unrelated concepts or ideas to produce a new innovation, B, designing with no consideration of user needs, C, relying on random chance to generate ideas, or D, focusing on a single area of knowledge for inspiration?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is of course A, connecting two unrelated concepts or ideas to produce a new innovation.

Well done.

An example of an innovative product that has been created using bisociation is the hook and loop fastening tape.

You'll come into contact with this at some point.

You probably had it on your shoes when you're in primary school.

So we had hooks on a bur from a plant.

We then looked at loops in fabric.

And what we have is we have hook and loop fastening.

Now this product actually came about from the designer.

Notice that these burrs would attach to their dog's coat.

What they did is they put the two things together and realized they could create a fantastic product that is used widely in products today.

Another example is electric vehicles.

We had the electric motor and we had lots of vehicles that use the internal combustion engine.

We put those two together.

We actually get the electric vehicle, much better for the environment.

We also have the cyclone vacuum cleaner.

You might have one of these vacuum cleaners at home.

So, extraction, centrifugal forces used to extract dust from industrial settings, combine that with a vacuum cleaner, and what you've got is you've got a cyclone vacuum cleaner, a vacuum cleaner that is much more efficient than a bag vacuum cleaner.

And of course we have the Swatch fashion watch.

We've got fashion, so high-end, lots of fashion, lots of colors, lots of different ways in which we can wear clothes.

We also have wristwatches.

Well, let's put those together and create a fashion watch.

Quick check for understanding.

An example of an innovative product that has been created using bisociation is A, we have the personal cassette player, B, the rubber car wheel, and C, we have hook and loop fastening.

Pause video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is of course hook and loop fastening.

Well done.

A method of using bisociation to generate innovative designs is to create two lists of different products and actually switch their functions.

This can be quite a fun activity, but it also can mean you actually come up with some great ideas.

So here we have a set of different products.

So we have the products on the left-hand side, for example, like a drinks mug.

And we're gonna look at a product on the right-hand side, headphones.

And what you can do is you can actually switch their functions.

And like I said, it's quite a fun task to do to come up with these, but you're gonna have to really think outside the box.

So let's have a look at some examples on how you can do this.

So select two products from the list and identify their primary functions.

So in this case, we have a toothbrush, which as we know is for cleaning our teeth.

We also have a ball point pen, and that's primary function is to write.

No surprises there.

Switch their functions, and suddenly we have a toothbrush which is used for writing, and a ballpoint pen for cleaning teeth.

Now we can of course keep the original functions as part of that, but what we're trying to do is incorporate the two to create an innovative new product.

So let's see how our Oak pupils got on.

So first of all, we have Lucas.

So combine the new product and function to create a new innovative product or idea.

So we have a toothbrush for writing, interesting.

Let's see what Lucas came up with.

So Lucas says, "Maybe a toothbrush that allows children to write on a mirror or the sink while brushing their teeth.

" Now I've got two young kids, and actually getting them to brush their teeth can be a bit of a pain.

So I think this is a great idea from Lucas.

So what you do is you have a washable ink, a safe ink in the toothbrush so they can scribble all over the mirror, on the sink whilst they are brushing their teeth or before or afterwards.

What that means is hopefully it will encourage them to brush their teeth more.

So I think that's a brilliant innovative product from Lucas there.

Well done.

We then have Sam.

Ballpoint pen for cleaning teeth.

See what Sam came up with.

"So maybe a brush style toothbrush pen.

You could adopt a coloring in technique to brush your teeth.

" And again, this is really interesting and innovative.

So we can see here Sam has designed a brush with a felt tip style head.

It's got a thin toothbrush body, and then you brush your teeth just like you are coloring in on a piece of paper.

Another very innovative product which might encourage toothbrushing.

Well done Sam.

So we're now onto your final task, task C.

Following the bisociation technique modeled on the previous slides, sketch two new innovative products or ideas from the list below.

Add notes to your sketches.

So let's a look at the list.

So here we have a series of products, drinks mug, toothbrush, smartphone case, water bottle, backpack.

We also have headphones, notebook, ball point pen, hairbrush, and desk lamp.

Select two products from the list, identify their primary functions, switch the functions, create two new ideas.

I hope you really enjoy this task.

So pause the video now, have a go at it, and come back to me when you've got your designs.

So how did you get on?

Well, let's have a look at how Sam got on.

So he decided to get a drinks mug, but to provide a light.

Interesting.

A motion-detected light up handle on a mug.

Brilliant idea.

When you reach for the mug, the handle will illuminate to draw the user's attention to where the handle is.

I think that's a great idea, especially if you're drinking hot drinks in low light.

You can see the handle lights up and it's got motion-detected light.

I think that's a great idea, Sam.

Let's see how Lucas got on.

So he said a desk lamp holding liquid.

Now this is an interesting one.

A desk lamp that has a calming visual and audible rain setting to help with stressful work moments.

And here we have a brilliant design of a lamp that seems to be raining as well.

So obviously there's some health and safety issues, but we're not really worried about at this point 'cause it's just a sketch, it's an idea, and Lucas has done exactly what I asked.

He's thought outside of the box.

He's been innovative, and this is certainly a brilliant product which we can talk about.

So you can see it's got rain sounds and it's got that rain effect desk lamp.

Notice it says rain effect.

Great idea, Lucas.

So that brings us to the end of our lesson and I hope you've had a great time using bisociation to be creative.

Remember you can use this in all your design and technology practice to try and think more innovatively about your designs.

Let's have a quick summary.

A design opportunity is a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial.

These opportunities can originate from a market pull, technology push, or sometimes both.

Design fixation is the opposite of being innovative and fixating on one idea or existing ideas.

This can limit creativity and innovation.

A technique that is used to avoid design fixation is called bisociation.

This is a technique of connecting two unrelated concepts or ideas to produce a new innovation.

You've been absolutely fantastic today.

Well done.

I look forward to seeing you all next time.

Goodbye.