Introduction

“Discovery, by definition, means you don’t know the answer when you start.” This was the response given by one Pete Docter, Pixar film director, while expounding on his experiences in the writing and production of Pixar’s eighth highest grossing film to date, UP. Recently the students of Dr. Bolinger’s creative process course had the opportunity to experience first-hand the process of discovery through a method of frame working your ideas known as the Nine Boxes exercise.

The Lesson

The beginning of class was a review held in groups of two to three students about their business ideas for the upcoming pitch-off competition which is to be held on December 3^rd.  Each group was assumed to have already developed an idea in the previous meeting of the course and would be using their creative innovations to exemplify the process of discovery. Now was the time for the students to consider the flaws and values of their hypothetical products and to polish their ideas in a way that resulted in professionally presentable merchandise.

The Activity

Each group of two or three students were given about an hour to consider the 9 boxes used to frame their individual business ideas. The individual prompts included

• Title: What is the name of your product or business and how will it draw the attention of consumers?
• Problem/Origin: what problem does your product/business solve for the common consumer?
• Product/Solution: what purpose does your product serve and how does it solve the aforementioned problem?
• Unique Value Proposition: What separates your goods and/or services from the competition?
• How it Works: what are the logistics, business or engineering wise, behind your product or business?
• Market Opportunity: How will you advertise, sell, and distribute your goods/services? How high is the demand concerning your specific industry?
• Finances: At what price will you provide your goods/services? What are the costs of creating these goods and/or providing your services?
• Go-to-Market: through what media will you provide your services? What are the advantages of your given media?
• Extra Work Slide: What is your pitch missing? What Information can you include about your industry which provides evidence of the value of your business/product idea?

Each group writes down a couple of bullet points or sentences about how their product would reflect each of the Nine Boxes. This activity helps students outline their presentation and reveal the strengths and weaknesses of their product or service. Some of these boxes can be easy and others are challenging. Most students struggle with boxes 4,5,7, and 8. These boxes contain information where students must be creative to differentiate from other products in their market. Creativity takes time, especially in this scenario where partners are bouncing off different ideas and suggestions to each other.

The Takeaway

Change is a necessary part of the process of creation. As innovators, we have a responsibility to struggle through hardships in the pursuit of success and creation. The recognition of the fact that there is always room for improvement or change in one’s innovative ideas is not the evidence of failure, but instead the evidence of discovery. Whenever a team gets together with the intentions of creating, whether it be a business, a story, or a generally beneficial solution to any problem, taking a step back and restructuring the framework should always be considered positive progression towards the desired resolution.