The RussCo Idea Buffet

Bratwurst shaped buns

Make buns in a curved shape similar to bratwusts so I can enjoy one without breaking the bun.

iphone Business Card Scanner

The Idea: Integrate a scanner into the iphone screen.  This way you could then lay a business card on it and scan it.  Then with software the contact info on the business card can be imported into your address book.

Timeline Feature for Facebook

The Idea: A feature on Facebook that lets you make one of those nice, graphics heavy timelines for your life.  You could obviously put in their schools, jobs, trips, awards, marriages, kids, etc.

Post office box keys double as letter openers

The Idea:  Design post office box keys so that they can also be used as a letter opener as well. 

The Background:  When I moved back out to Colorado since I am in a ski town there is not any residential mail delivery therefore I had to get a post office box.  So when I go to the post office now I often want to open at least a few of the items I have received.  However opening a letter with a key does not work as well as one of those smooth letter openers.  So I would love to see a key designed with a normal key design on one edge and a letter opener design on the other edge. 

Slotted Croutons

The Idea:  Make croutons for salads with a small slot in them just big enough that your fork can pass through it and pierce the lettuce beneath it.  Thus the crouton remains intact and on top of the lettuce.

I love croutons but hate how they get broken up into tiny pieces when you try to pick them up with your fork after you have some lettuce on your fork.  So instead, why not create a crouton with a slot that allows it to remain on top of the lettuce and now will not need to be crushed when you want to pick it up with your fork.

Type Writer Printer

The Idea:  Create a printer that is actually much like an old school typewriter.  This way when you type a letter it will not only have that classic typewriter font but will actually have the impressions of the letters from being stamped. 

The Background:  When looking in the archives at my office or when visiting Presidential libraries and you see some of these old letters created on a typewriter it just gives a certain genuine feel. 

Add windmills to cell towers

The Idea:  Instead of trying to hide cell phone towers by trying to make them look like trees, why not put a wind turbine on there to capture some wind energy which at the very least could be enough to power the tower if not put more energy in the grid.

Sand Paper Sandals

The Idea:  Make sandals with the top of them (the side where you foot touches the surface) made out of sandpaper or similar coarse surface.  I believe this would obviously help with the grip between the foot and the sandal.  It could also possibly exfoliate your foot while wearing it as well.

I Love my (insert dog mascot here) stickers

The Idea:  As a play on those stickers you see on cars all this time now for pure breed dogs, make a whole line of them and just insert the mascot for a College or University.  For example take JMU where I went to school, you could make several variations on, I LOVE my DUKE DOG.  

 

City Wide Scavenger Hunt through You Tube

The Idea:  Create a city wide scavenger hunt open to anyone.  Kick it off with a video from the final destination with the final prize.  The hunt could be organized so that it lasts a few weeks with a new video debuting every week to pace it out or once it is started it runs till someone gets the final prize.

The Possibilities:  Are literally endless.  You could make this a big marketing tool.  You could franchise it out city by city or even make it nation wide.  Everyone wants to be an Indiana Jones and go on a treasure hunt.

You Tube Movie Studio

The Idea: Create a movie studio of sorts just to make You Tube movies.   The goal would be to make viral videos that would catch on like a wild fire online.  Advertising could be sold on each video either through product placement, banner ads, etc.  You could bill the client one penny for every click the video gets on You Tube in stead of them having to pay a flat rate on TV.

The new Ford model E

The Idea:  A bold new way for Ford to reinvent itself would be to go back to its roots, at least in naming and build the Ford Model E.

The Background:  Obviously this is a variation on their wildly successful Model T from the early 1900's.  The E could stand for electric or some other green concept and would have to be Ford's attempt at making a true competitor to the Toyota Prius.  More than anything this is just a name as they have to know by now that they must get into the hybrid game or risk extinction.  But something bold yet related to the past could be the idea that they reinvent themselves. 

Pipe Tabacco Burner

The Idea:  Create some sort of lamp or similar mechanism that burns pipe tobacco. 

The Background: I love the smell of pipe tobacco but for many obvious reasons don't want to take up smoking one.  I would love to have a mechanism like this though that burns the tobacco so I could use it when working at night to help set the mood.  A candle that smells like pipe tobacco would not do the trick though.  I want to have to go to the shop, get some weighed on one of those old scales, and then have to pack the tobacco into the mechanism. 

Airline layover business networking/matchmaking

The Idea:  As part of each individual's frequent flier profile they should indicate the type of business/industry they are in & what types of other professionals from which industries they would be interested in meeting if they both had a layover at the same airport at the same time.  There are many stories of two unsuspecting future business partners sitting next to each other on a flight so why not open that luck to a much larger field.  The airlines simply would cross reference each individual's profile with layovers each day and send messages to possible matches.  Then for a meeting to be setup both would have to accept before they could contact each other.

The Possibilities:  This could easily turn into a marketing piece for joining the airline's lounge/club as only those members could participate in the program. 

Designer drop & extenstion chords

The Idea:  Make drop chords or extension chords out of material that is a little more pleasant to the eye and blends in better, especially when in a really nice room.

The Backgroud:  So many times I have gone to a board meeting at a super nice hotel go to our meeting room with leather chairs a huge wooden table and then connected to the projector in the center is this huge bright orange extension chord.  Plain black could work but I am sure some simple patten could also work very well. 

The Possibilities:  You could extend this theme and build a whole design practice around taking purely utilitarian items like smoke detectors, extension chords, exit signs, etc and by adding just a touch of design could make them blend in while also accomplishing what they were designed to do.

iphone Credit Card

The Idea:  Create some interface that would allow you to use your iphone to pay at the cash register.  The security could be that for each transaction it requires your thumb to be on the screen and scanned to confirm payment.  Then on the other side the cash register could send the details to your phone automatically so you could then make notes/comments on the item, could file it in your expenses for work, or enter it into you personal budget.

The Possibilities:  With the ability to receive info back from the merchant you could know in real time how much you have left in your monthly spending budget for personal expenses, groceries, etc by incorporating this with a program such as MS money or quickbooks.