Ideation and Brainstorming

Methods for rapid idea generation

Ideation is a design term to say brainstorm ideas, concepts, and solutions. It’s the third stage of the design thinking process. Ideation should happen at every stage, but as a linear concept, it comes after the business problem you’ve defined based on your research.

A quick bit about design thinking Per the Interaction Design Foundation:

Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding.

Source: http://www.theagileelephant.com/what-is-design-thinking/

Only by starting with the right questions will you then find the right design solutions to the problem. So once you articulate your client's actual problems, you can turn them into questions to brainstorm on with your team.

By timeboxing each of your brainstorming sessions, you’ll be more likely to focus on finding that sweet spot between anxiety and boredom. As you synthesize your ideas, you being to connect existing ideas to create better ones.

https://www.slideshare.net/changeorder/better-ideas-faster-how-to-brainstorm-more-effectively/40-the_more_time_you_provide

Ideation and Brainstorming Methods

• Mind mapping — Visualizing connections between pieces of information as a diagram.

Source: https://www.mindmeister.com/blog/mind-map-examples/

• Six Thinking Hats — A parallel thinking technique for you and your team members can learn how to separate thinking into six clear points of view and perspectives.

Souce: https://www.thepersimmongroup.com/six-thinking-hats-use/

• How Might We Questions — The goal is to create questions that provoke meaningful and relevant ideas; do so by keeping the questions insightful and nuanced and turn your perception into an actionable point-of-view.

Source: https://c-academy.org/course/how-might-we-toolkit/

• Brutethink — Forcing connections between your area of focus and a totally unrelated word.

Matt McElvogue — Source: https://www.slideshare.net/changeorder/better-ideas-faster-how-to-brainstorm-more-effectively/52-ideainversiontaking_an_idea_and_envisioningits

• Brainwriting — Instead of stating your idea aloud, write it down and pass it along anonymously.

Source: https://www.innovationtraining.org/brainwriting-template/

• Challenge Assumptions — Find your assumption, then ask if that needs to exist that way. Ask, ‘Are the characteristics we take for granted about these things really crucial aspects, or are they just so because we’ve all become accustomed to them?’ ‘Do people really always have to wear identical socks on both feet? — or even identical shoes, for that matter? Are socks even necessary?'

Source: http://1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/creativity_challenging_assumptions.html

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