Posts filed under ‘Make A Note of Unusual Combinations’
Stockbox Grocers: Fresh Groceries and Fresh Ideas
“Across the U.S. a growing number of people live in food deserts, which means they don’t have access to healthy and affordable food within walking or biking distance of their home. Stockbox Grocers responds to this need with a miniature grocery that’s tucked inside a reclaimed shipping container and placed into the parking lot of an existing business. We innovate on the espresso stand model to build stores throughout urban communities, and provide fresh produce and grocery staples to those who currently without access to good food, where they live.”
On their concise web pages you have an opportunity to find or put several Fresh Ideas strategies into play, for example:
- Make a Note of Unusual Combinations: reclaimed shipping container + parking lot of an existing business + fresh produce and groceries = miniature grocery for food desserts
- Turn Up the Volume: take the espresso stand model and expand it to offer grocery items to get you through the week
- Prototype Early and Often: go here http://stockboxgrocers.com/ to learn how their prototyping is progressing.
Which Fresh Ideas strategies could you braid together to craft a new solution?
Slingshot
Slingshot is a spirited but informed read that helps its readers hone the Fresh Ideas strategy Make a Note of Unusual Combinations.
While considering the success of combining well-established concepts (“cafés” + “quick-service platform” = Starbucks), particular attention is paid to creating lifestyle enrichments that appeal to a broad audience.
Other new combinations with market driving possibilities include:
- MyCube: social network sites + the ability protect content online = a private, monetized Facebook
- Square: handheld devices + credit card readers = mobile transactions.
Whether or not you read the book, you can continuously ask, “How could I combine some of the things that make my life better?”
A Timbered Timbre
The forest in this video a verdant example of how the Fresh Ideas strategy ‘Refresh Your Space’ can shift you into a different kind of mindset.
Watch, listen and experience this ‘Unusual Combination’ of a wooden ball + a giant xylophone + said forest + Bach:
And then maybe think about ways you could
work at a different scale,
with a different source of momentum
or in a different setting.
ipad + velcro
Have fun using the Fresh Ideas strategy “Make a Note of Unusual Combinations” watching what all the ways Jesse Rosten used:
What other ways could you use this combination?
The Burqini
Growing up in Australia presented challenges for Aheda Zanetti, a young Muslim/Arab girl.
Complying with Islamic beliefs about modest dress while pursuing sports-related interests was a persistent challenge.
The solution?
The Burqini, a comfortable, flexible form of sportswear suitable for Muslim women.
Subscribers to Fresh Ideas will appreciate linking this solution to the ‘Make a Note of Unusual Combinations‘ strategy.
Eclectic Creative Prompts
In a recent Fast Company slideshow,
designers combine typography with skin, stones and shopping carts (among other things); creating interesting and sometimes unsettling images, and providing opportunities to practice two Fresh Ideas strategies: ‘Collect the Eclectic‘ and ‘Make a Note of Unusual Combinations.’
More Unusual Combinations
Lots of great feedback on the ‘Make a Note of Unusual Combinations’ issue of Fresh Ideas. Sometimes combinations are evocative because they combine disparate fields in an interesting way, like:
(Design Within Reach) + (Coke) = (a beautiful chair containing more than 100 plastic Coke bottles)
Sometimes the combinations strike a cord because they combine two adjacent fields in a unique way, like:
(tube socks) + (flip-flops) = (Sanuk’s TubeFlop )
What combinations have been making you take a second look?
