[originally published 5th December 2015]
Today I am going to explain my brother’s birthday present and how I did it.
My brother has always prepared surprises for my birthday but during last years I didn’t do many special things at his birthday. Just wake him strongly saying “TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!” or fill his room with balloons. So this year I wanted to do something different. A surprise that we both would enjoy together.
The first idea which came to my mind was to create a ticket for something together. I started to write down:
The main purpose this gift had to achieve.
Gift’s goals.
All the ideas related with this topics that came to my mind.
(Even they are in Spanish, I’ll show you the pictures of my notes to make it more visual. Anyway all the steps I followed will be explained in English.)
The main purpose: Activity that allow us to create together.
Gift’s goals: 1) activity which requires find a solution or solve a problem.
Ideas related: 1) it has to be prepared like a real event, with the appropiate web page, etc. 2) create “the superbrother kit” (a box that contains all the materials we’ll need in the activity)
I searched at ticketea web page all different kinds of event the platform serve. I wrote them down. Then I chose these kinds of events which concept is more connected with the experience I wanted to deliver.
–Musical, circus, workshop, tasting, festival, outdoors, theme park- were the concepts which evoked more to the idea I was looking for.
* What if I create a form to make my brother able to choose the activities he want to do? It will take him into a video. This video through geometric shapes will end into “the perfect experience” as the consequence of his choises/answers.
I wanted something that makes my brother enjoy and have fun as well as learn and squeeze the brain.
He loves to laugh and he has big sense of humor.
It has to be related with creativity, “thinking deeply” and crazy staff.
Sport?
I wrote at Google images “meeting creative ideas” to get inspire through the images. Thinking on what my brother and I can create that will be similar or better of what they shows.
At that step of the creation episode I got away without noticed it. I started to write down and to think on another ideas I wanted develop that wasn’t related with that project. →
Ticket for a meeting together.
The web page event name will be “Let’s rock it together!” (but it’s needed to define better how is going to look like, what is going to be, etc)
It will have a minimalist appearance.
I will buy white balloons. I’ll write funny sentences with black marker con them.
HUMOR + SQUEEZE THE BRAIN (use logical knowledge) + ACTION (plastic arts & activity which requires body moving) + CRAZINESS
Concepts I found similar to the idea I was searching for:
To create a musical or Karaoke
To create a workshop with a gourmet tasting -this idea was more something that I wanted instead of something my brother really would love. But I wrote it at my notes because maybe it can fix to complete another idea.
DESIGNING FOR YOURSELF: 4 songs, a blank paper divided into 4 squares. You have to draw what the music suggests you.
GET INTO CONCLUSSIONS: game like 13 Dead End Drive (Spanish version is called “The legacy of aunt Agata“)
DESIGNING FOR OTHERS: 5 chairs Design Thinking exercise
HUMOR and CRAZINESS were I let them?
Design the process my brother will follow to get what the surprise is about.
Then I searched for the funny sentences I will write on the balloons.
And to finnished it, I added the humor and craziness concepts into the process.
DESIGNING FOR YOURSELF (We will have to draw what of the each song suggests to us. After it, we will have to agglomerate the four concepts into a mask)
GET INTO CONCLUSSIONS
DESIGNING FOR OTHERS
With all the knowledge learned, we will have to create a video outdoors wearing the masks we made.
On the next publication I will show you how this idea was materialized.
