How to Generate Ideas with the SCAMPER Technique

Hello, daydreamers. I'm Michael with Bizarre Design Lab.

And today I'm using one of my favorite foods in existence

to show you how ideas are generated using the SCAMPER technique.

Let's do it.

Oh, hi, Tinker. Hello, Michael. It looks like you have a new assignment to review.

I guess so.

It's from the Small Town Peanut Butter Company.

Dear Michael,

we would like for you to help us discover an innovative

and unusual new way to promote our peanut butter product.

It's nuts. Do you accept this assignment?

Small town Peanut Butter Company.

Assignment

accepted.

Hey, Tinker. Yes. How can I help?

This assignment

will require us to peer outside of our conventional

understanding of our client's product and imagine something new.

Do we have a concept generation tool for this?

As a matter of fact, we do.

The SCAMPER technique is exactly the tool you're looking for.

Tinker, as always, you've been most helpful.

SCAMPER is an acronym with seven letters.

Each letter gives us a unique technique that will help us

imagine our product from innovative

and sometimes downright ridiculous perspectives.

The first letter in SCAMPER is S, which stands for substitute.

Look at the components that make up your product.

Replace or substitute one part for something else.

In our example, we're going to consider replacing peanuts,

the main ingredient in our product with almonds instead.

Mmm..

The second letter C stands for combine.

Is there anything we can combine with our product to

make it more attractive or efficient to the end user?

Peanut butter and jelly have a long standing reputation as one of

the greatest food mashups. Place it in between two slices of bread and

a satisfyingly sweet sandwich awaits you. The third letter A is for adapt.

This is probably the trickiest technique of the seven.

Is there a way we can adapt our product to external stimuli

or to an industry demand? How about a healthier low fat option?

Anybody feeling like powdered peanut butter?

Suit yourself! Next letter is M for modified.

Let's increase the size of the container for large families,

or maybe we can minimize the container to accommodate

those who want peanut butter on the go.

Next,

we come to the letter P for put to another use. In

what ways can we use peanut butter differently than it was intended?

We can bake cookies with it.

Combine it with a pine cone to make a hanging bird feeder.

Did you know that you could shave with peanut butter?

I'm really liking some of the ideas I'm getting with that concept.

Next up is the letter E for eliminate.

Is there elements that we could eliminate to increase efficiency or reduce waste.

I could eliminate the traditional method of spreading peanut butter

on bread and just eat it directly with a fork.

Maybe I could eliminate the product itself and

use the jar for storing nuts and bolts.

Ok. We've come to the last letter R for reverse.

This is where we flip the direction of the product or

process in hopes of seeing it from a different perspective.

What if instead of spreading the peanut butter on bread,

we toasted the bread and dipped it in the jar?

Or what if we changed the threads on the lid,

so it screws on clockwise instead?

Imagine your child's surprise

when they can't seem to open the peanut butter jar.

Well, Billy, your mom did tell you to ask first.

Now that we have a handful of ideas here,

we can select the one that's most relevant to our assignment

and begin laying out concept sketches for our ad, revising these

until we're satisfied with the placement of the elements and rendering

our chosen concept in our vector drawing program of choice.

I chose to go with the idea of using peanut butter to shave with, so

I could give our client the unusual,

innovative advertisement that they were looking for.

This included a fun retro style graphic in a play on words with the title

to include the name of the product.

Click the thumbs-up button if you've ever eaten peanut butter out of the jar

or because you like this video.

I hope you enjoyed how I use SCAMPER to work a design concept through to completion.

Let's recap on what we learned.

S stands for substitute. Replace or substitute one

component for another. C is for combine.

Combine two or more elements into one. A is for adapt.

Let's cause the main elements to adapt to external stimuli or in industry demand.

M is for modify. How are we changing the size or properties of the initial concept?

P is for put to other use. How can we use the elements in different ways?

E is for eliminate. Let's eliminate elements to see how it affects our concept.

And R is for reverse.

We're flipping things around to see them differently.

When I need to come up with a concept for a project,

I love to be able to get to a resource like SCAMPER quickly and easily.

That's why I've designed the SCAMPER wall graphic,

you can add to your workstation so that you always have a visual reminder

when you're trying to come up with the concept for your next project.

Order one for yourself using the link

in the description below.

So, there you go, seven techniques tucked into a simple acronym that will help you to

step out of the box and see things in ways you would never have thought of.

If you like this video, please do click that thumbs up. If you want to join the tribe,

please click subscribe. Hey, I'll see you in the next video. Toodles.