Olfactorizing Umeå

frogs leaving the pond to freshen up the daily croak gets them wandering off the beaten path.  Aside from social innovation projects and conferences, kicking projects with students and working at universities is most inspirational to frogs. On the treasure hunt for the fresh water, Munich Creative Directors Justin Maguire and Ralph Bremenkamp most recently took the chance to visit the Umeå Institute of Design at Umeå University in Sweden.

Invited for a one-day-workshop the two  creative directors launched a six-weeks challenge for first and second year students from the Advanced Product Design Program. The challenge of the project is to explore the possibilities of designing with olfaction in mind - the ability to sense and experience through smell. Initiating the project, Ralph and Justin introduced frog design's frogThink to the participants.

frogThink  is a framework for solving both business and creative challenges by replacing traditional brainstorming with collaborative, original and lateral thinking. A framework backed by more than four decades of delivering innovation to clients across many industries. frog design often uses this collaborative ideation process as a valuable tool in client projects. At universities, frog’s creative often use a simplified form of a full-blown frogThink workshop referred to as ThinkUp. These standalone workshops provide an ideal way to expose participants in a short amount of time to an intensive immersion in innovation, creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration. So did Justin Maguire and Ralph Bremenkamp when going to Scandinavia.

Using their preparatory scent diary, students at Umeå University participated in a workshop that generated 60 concepts during a single morning session, which were qualified, ranked and selected. The next step will be taken on a second visit to Sweden by end of January, calling a decision for the three final concepts that will be prototyped by frog design. The participation was vivid, the professor delighted and guests and hosts alike reported a great shared experience throughout the day.

Click here for a gallery of impressions from the day

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frogdesign/sets/72157625490499505/