Hello, I’m Ito from the executive office. On April 23rd, 2019, I held a student workshop in the style of a competition, and it only took two to three hours for even students with no product design experience to be able to formulate a solid pitch.
Today I'd like to share that process and its finer details. I’ve focused focus on the contest part of the workshop, but my hope is that anyone thinking that they don't know how to come up with their own pitch ideas can use this article as a reference.
Also, Mr. Fujii, who served as a judge for this workshop, has given some additional feedback on the pitches we heard. I've also included this so that you can have the chance to hear what kind of things a person judging a pitch considers.
That went on a bit long, but from now on is just a report on the workshop. Just how did students without experience in product design come up with pitches? Let's walk through the process.
From Zero to Pitch Workshop Process
First, let me provide an overview of the program. Among the ambassadors, there were some who were familiar with Art Steel, as well as others who had never heard of it. However, the primary focus was on those who had no prior knowledge of Art Steel.
1) Warm-up | Untangle your head, get ready to brainstorm - 10 min2) Input 1 | About Art Steel and its features - 15 min3) Input 2 | Value and potential of Art Steel's feature - 15 min4) Ideation 1 | Throw out lots of ideas for inspiration - 20 min5) Ideation 2 | Organize ideas with worksheets - 20 min6) Test & Feedback | Explain your idea to someone else and get feedback - 10 min7) Brush-up | Improve your pitch with the feedback you received - 20 min
1) Warm-up | Untangle your head, get ready to brainstorm - 10 min
【Goals/Outcomes】
It's said that to come up with good ideas, you have to have a strong imagination or power of association, where just one word or one image is enough to bring on tons of ideas. For example, on last month's Ippon Grand Prix (a Japanese game show), there were a number of artists with strong associative imagination.
To get the participants into this kind of mindset, we did a Picture Telephone Game warm-up. Essentially, it is the same as a game of telephone, except that it forces you to think with pictures.
【Example Themes 】
・Flower viewings
・Smoking Section
・Crowded Train
・Digital Nomad
【Necessary Materials】
・Post-it notes (any color)
・Felt-tip pens
【Solo Version】
Associative games are difficult with only one person, so just try to decide on an idea and then write out as many related ideas as you can in one minute. Do this several times.
2) Input 1 | About Art Steel and its features - 15 min
To come up with good ideas, you need good inputs to get you started. To that end, Mr. Fujii, judge for the competition and person in charge of the new business, FRONT, gave an introduction to Art Steel's features and selling points.
So that this would not just be talking for talking's sake, the students wrote down key points on post-it notes. This way, they could prepare themselves for creating their own ideas by jotting down any hints they heard as simple vocabulary items.
【Sample Art Steel Specialties Written by Participants 】
・Gives off a natural sense of harmony with nature
・Uses rusting and polishing to create various styles and textures
・Aging makes materials more appealing and tasteful over time
・Strong so it can be used without concern over breaking
【Necessary Materials】
・Post-it notes (yellow)
・Felt-tip pens
【Solo Version】
The same points that Mr. Fujii made in his explanation can be found in the below video, so simply take notes on post-its while watching.
You should also take a look at the FRONT website and its showroom at Tameike-Sannō.
http://nagomi-artsteel.com/art...
http://nagomi-artsteel.com/fro...
3) Input 2 | Value and potential of Art Steel's feature - 15 min
【Goals/Outcomes】
After receiving input, the next step is to connect that input to potential concepts. At this point, the participants had a lot of Art Steel's features and specialties on their minds, so next we had to tie those into crafting their own ideas' selling points.
We took the yellow post-its from the previous step as a guide to help us brainstorm and write out where Art Steel's features are useful and what potentials they open up on orange post-its.
For example, the from the "rust-prevention" feature, we got "good for outdoor furniture." From "firm and heavy," we wrote "hard to knock over."
【Sample Features and Corresponding Selling Points】
▼Feature: Strong when rusted
⇒Useful in coastal areas where salt damage is an issue
⇒Can intentionally try to create rust along the seaside
▼Feature: Very durable
⇒Can be used in rough settings like camping
⇒Can be mixed with other materials to increase their durability
▼Feature: Aging makes materials more appealing over time
⇒Value appreciates when older
⇒Consumers will get more attached to products as they continue to use them
【Necessary Materials】
・Post-it notes (orange)
・Felt-tip pens
4) Ideation 1 | Throw out lots of ideas for inspiration - 20 min
【Goals/Outcomes】
At this point, the students had been given a lot of input about Art Steel's features and capabilities. Next, based on what we've already discussed, we started brainstorming what products could be interesting or make life easier.
Everyone came up with one idea per minute, then drew that idea on white A4 paper and stuck it to the wall. That way, everyone could derive inspiration from each other.
This lasted for twenty minutes, meaning that each person came up with twenty ideas. This is a challenging task, but when first formulating ideas, quantity is more important than quality, and the students really worked hard at it.
【Inspiration Card Conceptualisation】
That said, just randomly trying to come up with one concept every minute will lead to you running out of ideas, and your later concepts will be vague and malformed.
That would certainly be counterproductive. To counteract this, we prepared two kinds of inspiration cards.
Product Cards
Situation Cards
The Product Cards have a wide variety of products on them, and the Situation Cards have pictures of different rooms attached. We prepared several of each of this.
【What You Need】
・ White A4 paper
・ Felt-tip pens
・ Inspiration tools
【Solo Version】
Even if you decide against inspiration cards, make sure to prepare some kind of inspiration to look at, such as Pinterest or magazines.
▼Product Inspiration:
・Web: Pinterest, Sumally.com
・Print: Interior design or consumer magazines (Brutus, Casa Brutus, etc.)
▼Situation Inspiration:
・Web: Houzz.jp, RoomClip.jp
・Print: Tokyo Style , Beams At Home , 123 Homes
5) Ideation 2 | Organize ideas with worksheets - 20 min
After having come up with all these concepts, everyone picked one idea (theirs or someone else’s) that they want to expand on. Then, they filled out a worksheet to organize their thoughts.
【Worksheet Headings】
・Product Sketch
・How to use the product, what the experience is like
・What features of Art Steel you focused on
・Situation sketch
・Situation explanation
・An experience that’s only possible with Art Steel
It can also be good to consider things like what kind of person you intend to use the product (target demographic) and what needs of theirs the product would fulfill. If you’re doing this on your own, consider these same points.
6) Test & Feedback | Explain your idea to someone else and get feedback - 10 min
After thinking up all these ideas, the participants created presentations showing off one particular product and a concrete situation it could be used in.
Once you’ve come up with an idea, it’s good to have a phase where you show it to other people before you pitch it. Concepts always seem good when you first think of them, but once someone with a more detached perspective has given their thoughts, you should be able to settle down and see how good it really is.
I was very impressed by the students at this workshop, because all of their product ideas felt very much rooted in Art Steel’s specialties.
Afterwards, Mr. Fujii from FRONT gave feedback on each of the presentations. He had a lot of positive things to say, like, “I want this product in my hands right now,” and, “This could be made even better by using this other product.”
【Solo Version】
Show your idea to as many people as possible (family, friends, people who work in design), and get comments from them.
The feedback you get is very valuable, but you absolutely do not have to use all of it. After all, if you try to incorporate every single opinion, the concept will end up unfocused.
Example Products
Now let’s go through some of the ideas the participants came up with (this worksheet is meant to be used in the middle of the workshop). I’ll also be including some of the feedback our judge, Mr. Fujii, provided, so if you are looking to pitch an idea definitely check out what he has to say.
1) A lantern that looks blends into the scenery as you use it, at home or outdoors
【Mr. Fujii’s Feedback】In recent years vintage camping goods have come back into style. Expensive goods targeted towards high-income consumers tend to gain a lot of attention, so it is good from that perspective as well. It also works very well as an Art Steel product.
2) An Art Steel suitcase that gains a unique, individual pattern from being used.
【Mr. Fujii’s Feedback】The product make good use of Art Steel’s particular properties, including how its look develops with use and its sturdiness requiring low maintenance. However, because Art Steel is fairly heavy, it may not be realistic to, for instance, bring it on an airplane. That said, it’s still thinking in the right direction. Transferring parts of this idea to a product that’s not a suitcase could be good.
3) An Art Steel fountain pen that you can pass down to your grandchildren, getting more beautiful as it ages.
【Mr. Fujii’s Feedback】The idea benefits from focusing on the lack of maintenance needed. A fountain pen you can actually use for a long fits well with Art Steel. It would also have a solid, dignified feeling, which is good. It’s also a novel idea, as Art Steel has not really been used for small products yet.
4) An Art Steel folding screen that you can use to customize a space to your tastes
【Mr. Fujii’s Feedback】It’s fantastic that it feels like they could make this right now. It could also be interesting to mix in other materials like wood alongside the Art Steel.
7) Brush-up | Improve your pitch with the feedback you received - 20 min
The participants revised their ideas based on Mr. Fujii’s feedback. Everyone then put down their finished concepts on a clean copy, pitched them one last time, and we concluded the workshop.
How to Send Us a Pitch
That’s it. What did you think? If any of you thought, “I just came up with a great idea,” or, “I could do that too,” or, “Art Steel seems interesting,” please feel free to let us know of any ideas you might have. I’ve included some details for how to pitch us a concept below, so please take a look.
We are happy to hear from people who both are or are not already involved in product design. Whether you are interested in interior design, general consumer goods, or making chic products that use rust to their advantage with Art Steel, we want to hear from people from all different backgrounds.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, but you’re free to pitch as many ideas as you like! If you think of anything, just let us know.
Application Details
▶︎Application Period: Monday, April 22, 2019 to Sunday, June 24, 2019
▶How to Pitch Us an Idea: Please send us the information below using the application form.
・An image or illustration of the product (please submit as a JPG or PNG, up to 10MB)
・A product description filled out in the text box on our web form
▶︎Also include a description of a scene or situation where the Art Steel product could be used.
▶︎Judging Criteria:
1) Does it make good use of the material?
2) Does it have use in daily life?
3) Aesthetic appeal of the design
