Big Ideas
problems + products
My mind is constantly alive with products to supply the solutions to the problems I see around me. Below are a few product ideas I have that provide an example of my type of product design thinking.
01
political accountability
I'd develop an app targeting young and millennial voters, that through interactive voting alongside their elected officials, they can track the outcome of every vote, and which politician they agree with most consistently. This allows the party of the politician to mean less, and their actions to mean more. It also allows politicians correct statistics to assist them in making decisions.
02
Splitting the bill
With the emergence of Zelle, and other bank apps that allow people to transfer money to each other instantly. An app like Venmo will soon find itself becoming obsolete if it does not evolve with the needs of its users. One way to do this is to create a "split the check" feature. Have the user take a picture of the check at a restaurant for example. Then the person can add friends to the check. Each person can click what they ate, and any dishes or bottles of wine they shared with others. The app then takes the taxes and tip and splits that amongst the patrons. It then indicates to each what their total is for approval and transfers the amount to the person who is submitting payment. No calculators needed.
03
Global warming
The problem with global warming solutions, is that they are all too big, too expensive, or rely on human behavior to change, making them all impossible. This is the wrong way of thinking. Only a solution that thinks small, enhances commerce, and leans into human behavior will succeed. I have such a solution.
Climeworks has developed fans that captures CO2 from the air, and turns it into fuel. The problem is that these plants are only in two locations and not doing enough to make a dent globally. My solution is to put these fans on airplanes, and build the filtration system right on the plane allowing the plane to be self sustaining. If we did this, airlines would not pay for jet fuel and flights would become cheaper and shorter.
Imagine all the airplanes that circle this planet every day, and imagine if all of them were eating up carbon as they went. The impact could reverse global warming, without a single carnivore going vegan.
04
Childhood obesity
During my time as a school teacher I encountered many hungry and impoverished students. Our school had a free lunch and breakfast, which was pizza for both meals. There was no nutritional value to any of these meals. No wonder childhood obesity is at large!
My suggestion would be to create an app for family and friends of students, that have the community sponsor each other's weight loss. For every pound you shed, a dollar gets donated to the school of your choice. This encourages healthy eating at home and opportunities for community events such as walkathons or marathons. The proceeds would go to schools to pay for more nutritious options in the cafeterias and other student centered improvements.
05
Bad Directions
Looking at your phone for directions and trying to decipher which of the many roads is the right one can be hazardous to yourself and other drivers. My suggestion is a windshield that displays from the drivers perspective, a light blue path along the road itself that leads to it's destination. When turns need to be made, the path will direct people over, changing to a yellow light to change lanes with caution, or a red light meaning to change lanes after someone has left their blind spot. This allows drivers to have a clear path and switch lanes safely.
06
bad flyers
I've been in enough flights to have witnessed two types of flyer: the scattered and the scared.
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For the scattered family (typically a family with more than two children), parents have to pick which of their two children will sit with them while the others are scattered throughout the plane. My suggestion is a retractable interactive screen. Now what separates this screen from the standard inflight screens already in place is that this parent and/or friend can request to view another seat on the plane, and be able to Skype with the other seat. This allows friends to chat, and parents to keep an eye on their children. This screen can be used for a number of other solutions, such as a touch screen allowing children to color on it or play games.
For the scared flyer, the hardest moments on a flight for them are take off, landing, and turbulence. During these moments, the screen will change to an augmented reality of a spaceship/roller coaster interacting with its space in the same way the plane is. This allows the scared flyer to get out of their head space and maybe even lessen their air sickness by having a way to see the movements of the plane.