Brainstorming

Conversion of Problem Statements into How Might We Questions

 My fist step in brainstorming was to convert my two problem statements from the Research blog posting last week.

Problem Statements:

1. Juli the commuting student needs a way to securely carry her various beverage containers on a bicycle because popular containers such as Nalgene or Starbucks thermos do not fit in standard bike bottle cages
2. Mike the commuting student and intern needs a way to get to work with professional attire because biking tends to compromise dress clothes due to environmental effects such as water and mud or due to packaging effects such as wrinkled clothes.

 How Might We Questions:

1. How might we securely transport various non-standard beverage containers (such as Nalgene bottles, coffee thermoses, or fast food soda cups) on a bicycle?
2. How might we deliver professional attire to a biker's destination without compromising it's  appearance from the effects such as water, dirt, mud and wrinkles?

Facilitate the Brainstorming Session

Assemble The Group

 

I assembled a group of 4 people to help with this project:
 





Mike - A graduate student in the MBA program and a full time working engineer.  Mike would be considered an avid cyclist with a considerable amount of experience biking on campus, and commuting via bike in general.

Jenni - a project manager at a major investment institute in downtown Minneapolis.  It has been several years since Jenni has biked on campus, but she regularly bikes to commute to restaurants, bars, and other social events.

Kjersten - A middle school literacy teacher who finished her graduate studies last summer.  Kjersten commutes via bike between work and  home on occasion.  She also uses cycling as a form of exercise.

Sam - An interior designer/event coordinator.  Sam rarely uses a bicycle and almost never uses a bike for commuting in any capacity.

Develop a Warmup Game to Encourage Creativity

 

I wanted to combine  a couple of characteristics into my warmup activity:

1. Physical activity
2. Mental stimulation
3. Removing a participant from comfort zone
4. Fun
5. Outdoors  

What I came up with was a combination of the human knot and word association.  I had each of the 4  members stand in a circle and grab a random hand of someone else.  This initially left them with their arms knotted up.  At this point each person had to say a word, and squeeze one of their hands.  When the did so, they could make a move to try and untangle the knot.  Then, whoever's hand the fist person squeezed had to come up with an associated word and make another move to further attempt to untangle the knot.  This went on until the knot was entirely worked out.





Everyone ended up laughing and feeling a little bit more relaxed then before the game started, so I consider the game a success.  I think that it would be even more fun with a larger group, as the knot would be more complicated to untangle.

Review Ideas that the Group Generated on Their Own

 

I had asked each member of the team to come up with a couple of ideas before our meeting for each topic, and each of them did.  The following are a couple of the more interesting sketches that were brought in by each person for the two topics of interest:

Jenni came in with an interesting roller bag idea for the clothing protection, and a ratcheting clasp system for the beverage container holder

Kjersten had a backpack system that was large enough to hang clothes in, and had specific compartments for different items like dress shoes.  She also drew out some sketches for an adjustable system to hold beverages on the front handlebars of the bike, including an idea for holding multiple beverages.

Mike drew out a messenger bag with a trifold system, similar to how standard garment bags are designed for commercial airplane travel.  He also drew out a "steam suite" for removing wrinkles.  Mike's beverage container holder included an elastic web solution, a strong magnetized clasp, and a bag system that would be compatible with a standard U-lock.

Sam developed a rolling bag system that worked into a backpack for the clothing protection.  She used a plastic sheath system that ratcheted shut using a standard electric tie for the beverage container.

40 Minute Brainstorming Session (20 minutes per How Might We)

 After completing our warm-up exercise and reviewing the ideas that had been brought into the session,we proceeded with the actual brainstorming session.  I decided to do this in an outdoor setting to help encourage creativity.

First I gave them 20 minutes to come up with all of the ideas that they could for question one:

"How might we securely transport various non-standard beverage containers (such as Nalgene bottles, coffee thermoses, or fast food soda cups) on a bicycle?"

 As they came up with ideas, I posted them onto a board that was leaned up against the tree shown in the picture above.  The populated board can be seen the picture on the left.

I used large post-it notes sized at 5" x 8" in an effort to get as much detail as possible.  Each participant was instructed to use each post-it note to document a single idea.  Each idea was to include a sketch filling out the entire post-it, along with a title.


With 22 ideas generated over the course of 20 minutes by 4 people, we had a calculated Ideas Per Minute (IPM) of 1.1 and an IPM per person of 0.275

 After the 20 minutes of brainstorming was completed for the first question, we completed the same exercise for the second question:

"How might we deliver professional attire to a biker's destination without compromising it's  appearance from the effects such as water, dirt, mud and wrinkles?"

During this session, 20 ideas were generated.  With 20 ideas generated over the course of 20 minutes by 4 people, we had a calculated Ideas Per Minute (IPM) of 1 and an IPM per person of 0.25

Sorting

At this point, the weather was turning hot enough that we all decided to go inside and complete the sorting.  For question one, there were 5 clear groups that people sorted the ideas into:

1. Apparatus that attach to the bike
2. Products or systems to improve or maintain the state of the clothing while it is worn
3. Products that would stay at the destination to improve the clothing upon arrival
4. Packs or containers for transporting the clothing
5. Items that would enhance the appearance but not affect the clothing

 

The sorting of the question 2 ideas fell into 2 clear categories:

1. Methods to attach something to the bike
2. Methods of attaching to or holding the beverage container.

Many of the ideas from one group could be used in conjunction with an idea from the other group.

10 Best Ideas 

For a clothing conservation system, the 5 best ideas (not in any order) were the following.  These ideas were determined to be the best through voting done by the 4 participants.

1. The Carrier (Sam) - A cart system that is pulled behind the bike
2. Roll Away Dry Sack (Kjersten) - A rolling system.  You put the clothes into the water proof bag and then roll it closed
3. Tri Messenger (Mike) - A tri-folding bag that slings over the shoulder
4. Garment Pack (Sam) - Similar to the roll away dry sack described in #2, this would be worn like a standard backpack
5. Office Dry Cleaner (Sam) - This would be a stationary device that would be small enough to fit into an office, but it could dry clean and steam clothes in a very short amount of time.

For a beverage container carrying system, the 5 best ideas (not in any order) were the following.  These ideas were determined to be the best through voting done by the 4 participants.

1.  Magna Holder (Mike) - Two very strong magnets (one attached to the bike, one attached to the beverage container) would hold the beverage container onto the bike until the rider wanted to pull it off.
2. The Weave (Jenni) - The would be a mesh system that could expand or contract to allow for a variety of diameter containers to fit snuggly.
3. Stretch Bag (Mike) - Similar to idea #2, this system would use elastic to conform to the correct diameter.
4. Morning Coffee Carrier (Kjersten) - This system would use an upper and a lower ratcheting system (similar to what can be seen on a snowboard binding or a roller blade ) to tighten down on the beverage container.
5. The Claw (Jenni) - This system was inspired by "the claw game."  Once you put the beverage into the claw, it would clamp down around it and hold it in place.

I realize that these are not in landscape orientation, however the largest size post it notes that I could find (after trying multiple stores) only included adhesive in such a way that they had to be hung in the portrait orientation.  Since this size post it would provide a cleaner visualization of the idea, I proceeded with the materials I had available.

Research

Research Topic: Biking On Campus

For this assignment, I went about researching the subtopic "biking on campus"

To learn more about this topic, I tried to use three different techniques:

1. Ask
2. Observe
3. Experience

Ask

The "ask" portion of my research involved doing interviews with people who gave an appropriate representation of campus bikers.  I interviewed 4 people described below.  I am using representative names for convenience, but their real names are not used in this blog.

1. Jim - A Mechanic/Salesman at Varsity Bike & Transit
2. Ben - A guy riding one of the Nice Ride rental bicycles
3. Juli - A student who rarely rides bikes (laggard)
4. Mike - An avid student bicycle rider (early adapter)

Interview 1 - Jim

Jim was able to provide a wealth of information.  Rather than ask him about his own personal commuting needs, my questioning was mostly about what his customers are looking for when they come into the shop.  Since Varsity Bike is located right in the heart of Dinkeytown, I figured that this would give an accurate representation of the needs of bikers on campus.  We started by talking about what a consumer is looking for in a bike itself.  The primary drivers tend to be:

1. Price
2. Appearance/personal aesthetic appeal
3. Functionality

In that order.  Jim highlighted that price is often the overriding factor by far.  His discussion about the appearance & the functionality got into somewhat  of a distinction between geared bikes vs. single speed bikes.  A big part of the functionality discussion involved the trade off between ease of biking vs minimal parts & ease of maintenance.  Your standard derailleur is prone to damage, and it can be very challenging to keep clean in the winter.  An interesting compromise that Jim showed me was an internal gear hub that was on multiple models.  The bike initially looked like a single speed, and it offered many of the same benefits such as ease of maintenance, but it also afforded riders a range of three gears to help tackle inclines.  Jim went on to state that that outside of the bike purchase, the main accessories that riders are looking for are a high quality lock, a helmet, and a light system for riding when it is dark.  He informed me that it is actually the law that riders need to have a front light and a rear reflector at a minimum.  Somewhat less common but still purchased are rain/mud guards, helmets, and pack/rack systems.

Conclusion - Consumer Needs:

1. A bike that is cheap - this means initial cost, upkeep, and protection from loss (theft)
2. Minimal maintenance - Most students do not have the ability or the means to do mechanical maintenance on bikes
3. Safety - The fact that students are buying both helmets and lights systems indicates that they are motivated to stay safe
4. Aesthetics - Cost and functionality are (according to Joe) primary motivators for a bike purchase, and aesthetics tend to be secondary

Interview 2 - Ben

Over the last couple of years I have noticed that there has been a significant increase in the number of the green Nice Ride bikes all over the Twin Cities, including on the U's campus.  As I was walking through, I noticed a guy riding leisurely through and asked him if had the time to answer a couple of questions.  I was curious about what Ben's motivation was for using the Nice Ride bikes.  Ben had a couple of specific reason's for using these.  It is interesting to note that Ben ownes his own bike and still chooses to pay the rental fee to use the Nice Rides.  The reasons that Ben brought up for using the Nice rides include the following:

1. They are maintenance free.  Ben is able to count on having a functional bike on hand and does not need to worry about lubing chains or pumping up bike tires.
2. He does not need to worry about theft.  He does not ever lock up a Nice Ride, he uses it for point to point destinations, and then checks it back into the nearest Nice Ride Corral.
3. Ben does not need to worry about extra storage.  He mentioned that the bike that he owns is a challenge to store.  He has limited indoor space, and he often resorts to just leaving his bike locked up outside to make room.  With the Nice Rides, he never has to use his personal (and limited) space, because the bike just gets checked back in when he is done.

We delved a bit deeper into the maintenance part, and Ben made an interesting point.  He said that an annual subscription to Nice Ride is about $60, and that much money could be spent on maintenance alone. for a personal bike.  He did mention that there were some downsides to the Nice Rides.  They are very heavy, and it would be very taxing to try and complete a long ride or a ride with multiple hills.

Conclusion - Ben's Needs

1. Ben wants a transportation solution that involves minimum maintenance
2. Ben does not want to worry about having his property stolen
3. Ben has very limited space to store things

Interview 3 - Juli

Juli was a girl sitting on campus in the quad who was willing to answer some questions in between some of the homework that she was getting done.  She was not riding a bike that day, but she said that she does occasionally ride a bike when the weather is nice.  It was clear after talking to Juli that she does not ride often, and when she does, there are some issues that she has.  Her specific concerns included the following:

1. It is challenging to carry her accessories on the bike
2. Communication while biking is much more challenging than while walking or riding the bus (texting, talking on her cellphone, browsing Facebook)
3. Bike seats are uncomfortable when riding for extended periods of time
4. Biking is not easy to do when the weather is not optimal.  Specifically, snow and rain conditions that compromise traction can be very scary.
5. Juli was concerned about theft, and she was worried about the idea of leaving her bike on campus
6. Juli mentioned that it is challenging (particularly as a girl) to deal with the affects that biking has on her appearance.

We delved a little deeper into two issues, carrying accessories, and the negative affects on personal appearance.

The story that Juli told about carrying accessories was interesting to me.  She told a story about how she was trying to ride on her bike and transport a cup of coffee at the same time.  The coffee cup was a thermos with a cover, but it was not the right size to fit into a standard water bottle cage.  She started off by trying to hold it, but that did not work, because she could not adequately reach both the brakes.  Then she tried to jam it into the cage, but as she was riding it fell out, broke on the ground and spilled her coffee all over the place.  We talked about how often we see students carrying beverages in containers that would not be easy to transport on a bike, such as coffee, Gatorade bottles, and Nalgene bottles.

Juli also had a lot to say about how it was not easy to "beauty up" after taking a bike ride.  If she chose to wear a helmet, it would mess up her hair, and once she was done with the ride, she would usually need to wipe down her face and re-apply all her makeup.  She also usually needed to be able to carry a lot of stuff with her that she didn't want to be wearing while biking such as:

1. A nice outfit, such as maybe a dress
2. Jewelry accessories such as earrings or a necklace
3. A purse
4. High heels
5. All of the above mentioned makeup

Conclusion - Juli's needs

1. A robust way to carry beverages
2. A means to maintain her appearance throughout a ride, or improve her appearance after a bike ride
3. A way to either easily carry all of her extra accessories, or have a drop location to pick them up from

Interview 4 - Mike

My discussion with Mike made it clear that he was an avid bike rider.  He was riding a single speed  bike, but he had clip-less pedals, and had a waterproof roll top bag.  It was clear that he had spent a little bit more money on his equipment than some of my previous interviewees, or many of the other people that I had seen riding.  Although Mike did not share many of the same concerns that Juli did, there were some issues that he touched on.  The first was that Mike use cycling as a means to get to class, and also to his job which was an engineering internship.  he noted that it was sometimes very challenging to get to work looking professional after biking.  If he wore his work clothes while biking, there was a good chance that he would get them wet, muddy, sweaty or get grease on his pants.  He could protect the clothes in his bag, but then the odds were that they would end up getting pretty wrinkled.  This had been an ongoing problem for him.  His temporary solution was to trade off the days that he biked to work with a drive.  On the driving days, he dropped off clothes for his biking days, but this solution was not optimal.

Mike also noted that theft was a concern of his.  He cared about his equipment, and it was apparent that it probably cost him some money.  He noted some of the precautions that he took, such as bolted on wheels rather than quick release, and a hex nut seat clamp rather than a quick release clamp.  He showed me the U-lock that he used, and although it looked very secure, it was also pretty heavy which was a concern of Mike's.

Conclusion - Mike's needs

1. A robust theft protection system that is not overly heavy
2. A means to either protect his work clothes or transport his work clothes without wrinkling them

Observe

I spent a day this weekend walking through campus doing nothing but watch bikers.  It was interesting to notice things that I had never really seen before.  I noticed several things that I had not really seen before.  One was that there are a lot of signs of theft and or damage to bikes at many of the bike parking areas.  Many places I looked I saw locks that had been cut, bikes missing wheels (or in the case shown on the left wheels missing bikes), and bikes missing seats.  It is pretty clear why people push to have more serious locks on their bikes, and take measures to try to prevent theft.

Something else I noticed was that it is hard for many people to deal with the environmental challenges that come with biking.  I saw a couple of examples similar to what is shown here on the right.  Someone had taken a plastic shopping bag and tied it off over their seat in an effort to keep the seat dry if it rained during the day, probably hoping that they could take it off after the storm and have a dry seat to sit on.

I also got to see a couple of people trying to use their cellphone while biking.  I did not manage to get any shots of this, but both examples did not look very safe.  One young woman I saw riding through an intersection with her phone up to her ear with one hand in an attempt to hold a phone conversation.  She ended up running through a red light.  Although no on got hurt, it looked like it had the potential for a serious incident.

Experience

I have had a significant amount of experience biking on campus.  I used a bike exclusively for transportation throughout my time as an undergrad, and I have used a combination of biking and driving now during my time as a graduate student.  My biggest challenges are similar to Mike's in that it is hard to transition from biking into a professional setting.  I have found mediocre ways around these issues with the right gear such as hard shell pants & jackets as well as waterproof bags (such as the one shown to the left) to protect myself from weather challenges, but it continues to be a challenge.

I also had a challenge with how to come up with space for my bike when I was an undergrad living on campus.  There is inevitably not enough space inside the kind of apartment that a college student can afford, so it was always a challenge to figure out what to do with my bike.  I have also found that in the summer months when there is a lot of bike traffic, it is often hard to find a space to park a bike legally.  I noticed as I was riding to study over the weekend that the U has put in some interesting new racks over by Coffman in an attempt to maximize the amount of space available.  The way these bikes are mounted vertically will probably allow enough space for an extra row to be put in.  Although this picture was taken over the weekend, this bike corral is completely filled up during the week when the weather is nice, and it is very challenging to figure out where to put a bike.

Major Insights

1. Maintaining a "dressier appearance" through a bike commute is challenging.  This was a problem for many people that I talked to, but it was a particular issue for females and people commuting to a professional setting.  This point was supported by my interviews with Mike and with Juli, as well as through my own experiences.
2. It is challenging for bikers to decide to compromise on weight/bulk vs security when deciding what kind of lock to use for their bike.  Mike explicitly pointed this out in his interview.
3. People have a hard time carrying non-standard items like coffee thermoses on a bike.  This was an interesting point that came up in Juli's interview.  After she stated it, I realized that I had also had similar challenges.  Although I don't drink coffee, I have had times where I have grabbed a quick meal in between classes, and wanted to bring my fountain soft drink with me on my bike only to realize I had no way of carrying it.
4. Communication is a challenge on a bike.  It is easy for people to talk on the phone or text while walking or riding on the bus, but it is much more challenging to do when riding a bike.  Julie brought this up during her interview, and I saw this firsthand during my observations.

Problem Statements

1. Juli the commuting student needs a way to securely carry her various beverage containers on a bicycle because popular containers such as Nalgene or Starbucks thermos do not fit in standard bike bottle cages
2. Mike the commuting student and intern needs a way to get to work with professional attire because biking tends to compromise dress clothes due to environmental effects such as water and mud or due to packaging effects such as wrinkled clothes.

Both of these problem statements are clearly supported by the interviews described above.

Humor

Part 1: Get into that humorous mood...

This assignment just happened to coincide with an excellent funny video that was getting emailed around my office today:

An Engineer’s Nightmare Product Meeting

Everyone in this class should watch the video, it will make you laugh.  If you are an engineer (preferably one who has sat through a couple of real world work meetings).  Maybe not so much if you are a manager, designer, or sales person... :)

It really does tie into the comments that Professor Kudrowitz has made multiple times about the difference between creativity vs nonsense, and the key components of innovation (novel + valuable + feasible)

Part 2: Mind Map of College Life

There are several sub-themes that I am interested in here, but the two that I am most interested in are:

1. Face buff for protection in the cold
2. Light system for visibility while biking

Part 3: Doodle 10 Silly Ideas (still about college life)

Dorm room fire pit

For the student who wants to curl up by the fire while doing their homework.  Just make sure that there are no fire codes preventing open flame in your dorm room.

Clothes tree tree (actual tree)

This tree has been genetically modified to have no leaves as to maximize the number of clothes hanger spots available on its branches.  Perfect way for the nature lover  to show off their entire wardrobe.

Levitating bed

In the battle to save space in a dorm room, having a bed that can float is very handy.  Just make sure that there is nothing even remotely flammable underneath the rocket engines located at each of the four corners.  The noise also might not be conducive for sleep...

Kangaroo pouch tee shirt for books

Just in case you need to walk around with a text book that you don't want to carry or put into a backpack, just stick it in the front of your shirt.

Bicycle umbrella

Pretty self explanatory.  It is a giant umbrella for a bicycle.  Will protect from both rain and sun.  Will probably be challenged by even low level wind or speeds that exceed 5 mph.

Dry erase tee shirt

It will be hard to depend on anything written on this shirt to make it through the rigors of everyday life, but it would work with any standard dry erase marker.

Textbook with glowing pages

This is a glowing book.  Probably not enough to actually read in the dark with, but enough to give a nice psychedelic green ambiance to any study session

Refrigerator backpack

Just in case one wants to walk around (at least as far as an extension cord will allow) with cold food instantly accessible, try out the refrigerator backpack.

Walking desk

This is designed to strap onto a person so that they can continue to work while walking around the campus.  You can see below a strap for the waist on the right, and a sling to go around the neck on the left.

Microwave for turning food purple

Put in a cup of coffee, some frozen peas, or last night's left over.  Whatever goes in, it comes out warmer and more purple.

Part 4: Meyers-Briggs

It would appear that I stand beside some of The Greats such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, and Tywin Lannister as an ENTJ (Extrovert iNtuitive Thinking Judging)

It was interesting to me that the test did not just bucketize  each category, but it also reported out how strongly I fell into each category.  For instance, I have a very strong tendency towards thinking over feeling, but I only have a slight tendency for extroversion over introversion.

Cookies

Baseline Goal, Original Ideation & Factors to Overcome

I was given the assignment to create a new cookie, and I approached this problem with two basic facts.

1. I am not a baker.  I do not recall ever having attempted to bake cookies myself
2. I was recovering from a night of heavy partying at a good friend's wedding the night before doing this work.

Now, ordinarily point number two would not be of interest or applicable to a class assignment, but in this case it gave me a craving for something savory rather than something sweet.  After going to the grocery store, nothing really looked appealing....


All of the standard commercial options were classic sweet cookies.



So instead, I started buying items that were closer to the flavor I was craving.  I got home, and using a basic oatmeal cookie as my base, I started editing the recipe in an effort to create what I was looking for.  The basic recipe came off of the Quaker Oats website.  You can see the recipe and my initial notes in the image below.

 Revision 0

 

 

On top of the markups in red, I also downsized the volume of the recipe knowing that there would probably be some iteration, and I can only eat so many prototype cookies....

Rev 0 Recipe:
1 cup oats
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup parmesan cheese (powdered)
1 pinch of finely chopped green onion

I formed these into disks that were 3" in diameter and 1/4" in height.  These were then baked at 350 degrees F for about 16 minutes.  The result looked and tasted pretty good:

 

After the baking was complete, I had some post-tasting comments:

1. It needs a little less rosemary.  This may be a personal distaste for the herb, but it seemed strong
2. Some visual contrast would help.  I am thinking bigger pieces of green onion?  Possibly spinach for a brighter green?
3. The cook/bake time was perfect.  They came out done but still soft
4. A shredded parmesan might be better than powdered.  A "cheesier" flavor would be better

3rd Party Inspiration

 

At this point was also craving some real food, so I headed over to a cafe near my house for breakfast. Incidentally enough, they were serving up a scone option that reminded me of my product design goal. You can see the two options available in the picture to the right.  There is a "Strawberry Chocolate" as on option, and the other option available is "Spinach, Bleu Cheese, Green Onion".  This looked very similar to what I was going for with my cookie design, so I purchased one (and thoroughly enjoyed it).

Revision 1 Design

 
 With the next revision, I made some changes. I considered my notes from the revision 0 trial to add in some additional ingredients including the spinach, larger onion pieces, & shredded rather than powdered cheese. I should note that I ran out of shredded parmesan and supplemented with shredded asiago.

After really enjoying the scone that I picked up earlier for breakfast, I also decided to add in some blue cheese.  The tangy flavor of the cheese really added to the flavor of the scone, and I figured that it would also enhance the flavor of my cookies.

One thing of interest that I did notice was that the flavor definitely got overpowering if the pieces were too big.  As I measured in my self-determined amount, I only selected chunks that were less than approximately 1/4" in diameter.

The revision 1 recipe was as follows.  I used the same baking temperature and time as used in revision 0

1 cup oats
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
3/4 cup asiago cheese (shredded)
1 pinch of finely chopped green onion
3 teaspoons blue cheese (<1/4" chunks)
1/4 cup diced green onions
1/4 cup chopped spinach

Some comments post rev 1 bake:

1. The shredded cheese (including the supplemental Asiago) was very successful.
2. The ingredients added for aesthetics improve the flavor somewhat, and had significant improvement on the appearance
3. Overall flavor I was happy with the improvements

 Revision 2

At this point, I am pretty satisfied with the base cookie, but something was still missing.  Every cookie should have frosting!  Obviously this would have to be tailored to the situation though, I don't think that oreo stuffing would fit this particular cookie.

My initial list of options included the following:

1. Cheese spread
2. Flavored Hummus
1. Spicy red pepper
2. Garlic
3. Sundried tomato & basil
3. Olive Tapenade 

After trying a couple of different options and getting feedback from focus groups (hungry friends who were over at the time) the final contenders were a horseradish cheddar cheese spread and sundried tomato & basil hummus.  You can see in the images below, the two options as they were packaged.  Below that from left to right are three pieces of the revision 1 base cookie served plain, with hummus, and with cheese spread

 

Ultimatly, the hummus option won out.  It made manufacturing easier (spreading onto the cookie) and it was cheaper.  These could both be a factors if I decide to commercialize my product.

 

Final Design

After going through the iterative design process, my final recipe is as follows:

1 cup oats
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
3/4 cup asiago cheese (shredded)
1 pinch of finely chopped green onion
3 teaspoons blue cheese (<1/4" chunks)
1/4 cup diced green onions
1/4 cup chopped spinach
1 container of sundried tomato & basil hummus

The final product looks like this: