My product idea is being discussed live tonight.

I've been a part of quirky.com for about 3 years and this will be the first time one of my ideas has made it to the final evaluation.  Quirky is a community driven consumer product development company.  Every aspect of the product from the name, to design, tagline, and price is voted on by the community.  

The first step though is to get into a live evaluation and my idea for a expanding cookware hanger was selected.




These evaluations are broadcast live at http://www.quirky.com/live and there's a running chat along side the video where the community discusses the current idea.

I encourage you to check it out.  It starts at 6pm tonight and it's a great way to see a new method of how products go from an idea to a shelf and eventually into a home.

Sketchup Tutorial: Making A Rounded Square in 6 Steps

Google Sketchup is a free program that is quite limited, but it has a very intuitive UI so getting a product draft done in minutes becomes very feasible.

I'm going to post a short tutorial on making a rounded square, which I used as a starting point to make this render image.

Design submission to Quirky.com's butter twister design phase.

MAKE A ROUNDED SQUARE IN SKETCHUP

1.  Start by making a square.  You can click on the square tool and drag out your square or click the square tool and type in the dimensions i.e. Typing "300,300" and pressing Enter gives you a 300 by 300 square with the metrics you've set for the project.

2. Use the ruler tool to mark out the dimensions of the rounded corner.  I wanted the rounded edge or fillet to be on the last 40mm of the square.  So I click on one corner and lead the ruler on the green axis and type "40" and Enter.  I repeat this on the same corner along the red axis.  I then move to the opposite corner and mark 40 mm along the green and red axis.

3) I then use the pencil tool to make a line from one side of the square to the opposite site starting at the ruler marks I made in step 2.

4) I repeat step 3 on the opposite corner and magically all 4 corners are marked off!  :)

5) I use the arc tool to create an arc that starts and ends on the ruler marks/line ends I've made.  

6) Delete the lines around the arcs you've created.  I've left one behind in this image on the bottom right.  At this point you are all set.  Delete those inner lines and dance a jig!  You have a nice rounded square.

Latest idea bids at quirky.com

It seems like ideas are very similar to dandelions... pluck one up and more sprout in its place.  That has been my experience this month and there are several catalyst to idea generation I'd like to share.

1) Sitting with an empty page and sharpie at a coffee shop:

There's something about watching people flow about the small space where I sit.  They drink their orders, or eat and sit.  Often shrouded in silence.  Some read, others are on their phone.  It reminds me of a temple if I don't think about the money exchanged.

2) The moment after I've read several chapters in a book:

I've read Richard Florida's Who's Your City, and I'm halfway through The Creative Class.  Several times after getting up from the book to take a break an idea will strike me in such a way all my senses get it.  It's as though the silence I wear to listen to the authors thoughts, becomes a bucket to see my environment in a new light.

3) Shower

It's where everyone sings and day dreams.  It's also the place I forget ideas since I don't want to spend money on a water proof notepad.

4) After a meeting

Don't tell anyone, but if I'm at a meeting where I'm not being addressed.  I doodle to stay awake, and it works.

5) Mind Maps

Drawing a mind map and exploding various areas where I cook, play, and garden often opens up my mind to see my environment in a non-linear way.

6) 1 Answer, 2 Questions.

This comes from Kevin Kelly's post about solutions bringing up more problems.  If I have an idea, I pretend it exists and start saying, "Now that I have this thing to fix my issues, what problems will I find if I explore this new world?".  The pretend product should at least generate 2 new questions which need answers.

7) Collaboration

Working with others has often taken me through dry spells where I was either spent from generating ideas or was generating ideas that were too similar.  Often when someone else is on fire, it helps me out of my rut as I help them with brainstorming or renders.

Here's the fruit from these 7 idea generation techniques.  Mind you, they aren't completed products, but concept renders being considered and voted for by the quirky.com community.  I will post the top three based on highest votes:

http://www.quirky.com/ideations/433482

http://www.quirky.com/ideations/423311

http://www.quirky.com/ideations/435915