Trevor Leahy, a teen-age goalie from the Boston area, is definitely no cement-head. He has come up with an innovative design enhancement to his padding that mimics the pattern of a hockey net. The theory goes that opposing shooters, with only a split-second to make the decision about where to place their shot, will mistake the camouflaged pads for open net and thus fire a harmless shot right into the blockers. Brilliant!

This innovation is a prime example of intersectional creativity, where concepts native to one subject are applied to another, yielding unexpected and often innovative results.. The fact that it occurs at the intersection of two of my favorite subjects (graphic design and hockey) only makes it better for me. The original Boston Globe article explains that Leahy, a graphic design student, was inspired by concepts of animal mimicry and camouflage that he studied in his design class and applied the principle to his hockey gear.

The Globe article doesn’t state, however, whether the new design yields fewer rebounds. Leahy has college plans, though. Maybe he’ll find the answer to that somewhere in PoliSci 101.

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Have you ever found inspiration within a subject or field totally unrelated to the one you normally work in? If so, do you actively seek such intersections, or do they “just happen”?  Comments are welcome, so please share!

Image: Tiger im Tor, by Dustpuppy on Flickr.