Random A05 Notes - 2011-02-21

Things you may want to be talking about...
- What is Coleman good at? What themes of need do their products address?
    - Adventure, Safety, Shelter, Fun, Organized, Frivolous? maybe... maybe not.
- What do people expect from or value about Coleman?
    - What other user groups have these same expectations or values?
- Who are Coleman's current users?
    - What do they need in the home?
    - Who are tangential user groups?
- Does the idea you have already exist?
    - If yes, and Coleman is not who makes it, why would Coleman want to compete in this space? Is the space already highly competitive?

Do not get too stuck on "we should design X" yet. Rather, it should be "we should solve X need/problem" or "Coleman is good at X, where in the home is this trait useful?"

Example tasks / questions to consider that you might want to be handing out / thinking about to prepare for Wednesday's class:

- Should we be looking up any info about our users? What do they look like? Who is in their home? How much do they make annually$$? Etc...

- Should we be benchmarking our product? Who else makes things like what we are thinking of? 

- Should we be setting goals to have X ideas on various themes? Etc...

- How are we communicating before the next class?

Assignment 05 (A05): Coleman for the Home

Description

Coleman is the world’s leading manufacturer of camping gear and outdoor equipment, including tents, lanterns, stoves, coolers and sleeping bags. You have been tasked to create a concept proposal to launch Coleman into the HOME GOODS market. 


There will be three components to this proposal:
1) Conception of a new manufactured product.
2) Conception of the packaging of the product.
3) Conception of a small “pop-up” point-of-sale kiosk.



Process

1) Form teams and exchange names and contact information.


2) Research and discuss what you think about when you think about Coleman products:
- Types of products.
- Types of users.
- Impressions of brand and products.
- Possible areas of the home they can expand into.


3) Brainstorm and Define:
The user your team  will be designing for.
- Who are they and what needs do they have that you can address?
The product type your team will be designing.


4) Ideation of the three parts of the project:
The product    The packaging The kiosk


5) Concept Refinements. Narrow the best aspects of your ideations  into one concept including each of the three parts. Remember to focus on the overall unity of the parts, as well as the intended user and the Coleman brand.


6) Finalize your three part concept and present it in the best way you can. Utilize your teams abilities and resources to produce visuals (sketches, collages, models, etc...) that tell the story of the user and their relationship to your product, packaging, and point-of-sale kiosk to the best of your team’s abilities.
Each team will have 10 minutes to present their concept to the class.


Presentation Order / Due Dates

Presentations will be in class Monday, March 07 & Wednesday, March 09.


As groups were determined through random card selection, presentations will be given in numeric order with Aces high. This means that on Monday, March 07, Groups 2-8 will present and on Wednesday, March 09, Groups 9-A will present.


All documentation of Process and Presentation, along with team evaluations, will be due by 5:18 PM Monday, March 14.
Documentation of Process and Presentation will be turned in via Carmen Dropbox. One person on each team will be responsible for turning in the Documentation of Process and Presentation on behalf of their entire group.


Team Evaluations will be done online. (more info to come about these) Every person will be responsible for turing in one evaluation for every member of their group, including themselves (a self evaluation).

Journal 08 (J08): Coleman Project - Personal Documentation

The goal on this Journal Activity is to be supportive of your A05 activities. For J08, create a post on your blog that does all of the following:

• Links to the blogs of all of your teammates on A05.
• Reflects on the state of the project as a whole. What has your team been working on? What decisions have been made? What directions have you been heading in? How has the team been working, both organizationally and personally? Etc...
• Reflects on your personal contributions to the project thus far. What roles have you been fulfilling? What have you brought to the table/conversation? What do you feel you have been doing well? What more could you be doing to facilitate the forward progress of the project? General feelings on the project? Etc...
• Documents the work being done on the project. Do you have scans of sketches you have done? Photographs of work happening? Notes, minutes, outlines, mind-maps, drafts, ideations, images, time-lines, goals, or any other evidence of the project's progress thus far? Etc...

The goal is to assist your group in the documentation of the process behind your A05 project.

Post this to your blog with J08 in the title somehow and both the J08 and A05 tags.