Text Me a Word...

For this blog post, my class was asked to text message 2 friends the following phrase: "Working on a class project. Need you to send me the word of a random inanimate object/thing." Once we got the words, we were told to brainstorm about them and then write about them. Here are the results of my activity! Enjoy.

First word: KEYS

When I start brainstorming about the word "Keys," my first instinct is to go to the things that people carry in their pockets/purses. Keys to the house, the mail box, the car, the office, a drawer, etc. I also tend to think about how people lose their keys a lot. Keys are physical items that lock/unlock things. People also use keys to "key" a car (aka take a key and run it along the side of a car to scratch it). But, when I think about it a little more, I think about keys like things on a musical instrument--piano keys, keys on a Clarinet or Flute, etc. I also think about the islands, the Florida Keys.

Second Word: PLASTIC CUP

My first instinct makes me think about the a "Red Solo Cup," which is the kind of go-to cup for college students in terms of partying and consuming alcoholic. The next thing I think about is a sippy cup used for toddlers. Cups hold beverages and plastic cups are usually disposable/meant for a one-time use. They are also sometimes linked to the environment since they are made out of plastic.

After we wrote down our first impressions of these two items that our friends texted us, the next step in the activity was to think about different ways that we could combine the two objects. Here is my bulleted list of different ways to combine the words 'keys' and 'plastic cup':

• A plastic cup with a design where there are little cartoon keys are all over it. Also, designs of little instruments with keys or the Florida Keys on them.
• A plastic key/cup kids toy set.
• A plastic cup that has a lid requiring a key to lock/unlock it.
• A plastic cup in the shape of a container to act as a holder for keys (like a tray).
• A plastic cup themed for a trip to the Florida Keys.
• Keys with plastic cup designs on them.
• Some type of mechanism that doesn't allow you to use your keys whenever you've had a plastic cup in your hands for too long (parties).
• A plastic cup model construction of the Florida Keys.
• A piano key acting as a key to unlock the cabinet to get a plastic cup (think about it...it's genius!!)
• A game using plastic cups--you put keys under one of the cups, rearrange the order and move them around quickly, and the person has to guess what cup the keys are under.

Usually, I think of myself as relatively creative but I had some trouble with this exercise! I had to stretch my imagination and think through the two items over time to make sure that my list was a solid list of interactions between the two objects.

The final step in the activity was to think about if any of those combinations would be viable products or services. Overall, I think that a locking plastic cup may exist already. I wouldn't be surprised! With some work, I think the piano key acting as a key pad/locking/unlocking mechanism would be viable. I've heard of mechanisms of preventing drunken behavior based on having to solve simple math problems to demonstrate that you're sober, for instance, and this is a similar idea. An image could maybe populate of a line of music and you'd have to play it on a digital keyboard in order to unlock your drink cabinet that had plastic cups in it. Other than that, I wasn't a particularly huge fan of any of my other ideas. I will continue to brainstorm throughout the week and post more bullets as ideas come to me. I hope you enjoyed my brainstorm!

What ideas do you have to combine a plastic cup and keys?