Description

Watch the episode on YouTube here.

Summary:

In this conversation, Scott interviews Andy Barkin, who shares insights from his diverse background in product design and invention. They discuss the importance of understanding the target audience for inventions, conducting market research, identifying pain points, and generating new ideas. Andy emphasizes the value of incremental improvements in innovation and the necessity of viewing problems through different perspectives to foster creativity. In this conversation, Andy and Scott explore the creative process of invention, emphasizing the importance of embracing ridiculous ideas and innovative juxtapositions. They discuss the role of direct marketing in product design, the significance of understanding the problem-solution dynamic, and the balance between feedback and intuition in the invention process. The dialogue highlights the endless nature of creativity and the necessity of exercising the inventive muscle to generate new ideas.

Key Takeaways:

• Andy's diverse background includes television and product design.
• Understanding who you are inventing for is crucial.
• Market research helps identify the size and needs of your audience.
• Pain points are essential for identifying opportunities for invention.
• Techniques like bug lists can help generate new ideas.
• Incremental improvements can lead to significant innovations.
• Trade shows are valuable for networking and market insights.
• Google searches and trade publications can provide market data.
• Seeing through others' eyes can reveal overlooked problems.
• Creativity often requires a numbers game approach to idea generation. Innovative ideas often come from combining disparate elements.
• Embrace ridiculous ideas as part of the creative process.
• Direct marketing techniques can inform product design.
• Understanding the problem-solution dynamic is crucial for inventors.
• Listening to feedback is important, but trust your gut.
• Creativity is an endless resource; keep exercising it.
• Inventions can improve existing products significantly.
• Storytelling is a powerful tool in marketing inventions.
• Don't be afraid to explore unconventional ideas.
• The more ideas you generate, the better your chances of success.

Learn about our guest, Andy Barkin:

Andy Barkin is a storyteller, an inventor, and a long-time business consultant. After working for many years in television and film production, he returned to graduate school for a degree in Product Design Engineering, opened his own design consulting firm and went on to work with many dynamic companies as a consultant. His areas of expertise include invention, innovation, design, manufacturing, and marketing. Andy is the author of the upcoming book, “The Business Case for Empathy.”  He lives with his family in Southern California.

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn here.

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