In the Ideation stage, design thinkers spark off ideas — in the form of questions and solutions — through creative and curious activities such as Brainstorms and Worst Possible Idea. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the best Ideation methods and guidelines that help facilitate successful Ideation sessions and encourage active participation from members. Show
When facilitated in a successful way, Ideation is an exciting process. The goal is to generate a large number of ideas — ideas that potentially inspire newer, better ideas — that the team can then cut down into the best, most practical and innovative ones.
The main aim of the Ideation stage is to use creativity and innovation in order to develop solutions. By expanding the solution space, the design team will be able to look beyond the usual methods of solving problems in order to find better, more elegant, and satisfying solutions to problems that affect a user's experience of a product. Author/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0In the Design Thinking process, the Ideation stage often follows the first two stages, which are the Empathise stage and Define stage. There is a significant overlap between the Define and Ideation stages of a typical Design Thinking process. Interpreting information and defining the problem(s) and ideation both drive the generation of problem solutions. This overlap is represented in the types of methods design teams employ during these two stages. For example, Bodystorm and “How Might We” questions are often used in both of these stages. Ideation Will Help You:
Ideation Methods to Spark Innovative IdeasThere are hundreds of ideation methods. Some methods are merely renamed or slightly adapted versions of more foundational techniques. Here you’ll get brief overview of some of the best methods:
Active FacilitationAlthough many of us may have previously participated in a Brainstorm session, it is not always easy to facilitate a truly fruitful ideation session, which may be the reason why many of us have had negative experiences in the past. However, Ideation sessions can indeed be fun and exciting, but they demand a lot of preparation and team member concentration in order to be fruitful. To sit the team down with a blank piece of paper and ask them to come up with ideas will likely result in failure. Likewise, to have everyone shout out their own ideas is likely to result in failure. People need guidance, inspiration and activities, in a physical and cognitive manner, in order to get the process started. Ideation is a creative and concentrated process; those involved should be provided with an environment that facilitates free, open, and the non-judgemental sharing of ideas. In Ideation sessions, it’s important to create the right type of environment to help create a creative work culture with a curious, courageous, and concentrated atmosphere. Instead of using a boardroom with the CEO sitting at the head of the table, Design Thinking and Ideation sessions require a space in which everyone is equal. The Ideation room must have sufficient space for people to feel comfortable, but the atmosphere shouldn't be sterile, and team members shouldn't have to shout in order to be heard. You should also designate someone to take down contributors' ideas and draw/write them on the whiteboard/wall/poster. If the process begins to slow down and people seem to be running into a dead-end, the facilitator should impose constraints, such as: "what if there was no top-level navigation bar?" or "How-might-we go about the task if we were 8 years old?" Alternatively, you might want to set targets, such as filling a brainstorming sheet within ten minutes. To start understanding what it takes to facilitate a successful Ideation session, we’ll take a closer look at the best Brainstorming rules. Brainstorming RulesAuthor/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0At its most basic level, a Brainstorm session involves sprouting related points from a central idea. Brainstorming is one of the primary methods employed during the Ideation stage of a typical Design Thinking process. Brainstorming is a great way to generate many ideas by leveraging the collective thinking of the group, engaging with each other, listening, and building on other ideas. This method involves focusing on one problem or challenge at a time, while team members build on each other’s responses and ideas with the aim of generating as many potential solutions as possible. These can then be refined and narrowed down to the best solution(s). Participants must then select the best, the most practical, or the most innovative ideas from the options they’ve come up with. We’ve summarised the best practices and brainstorming rules from the Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school) and the successful design company, IDEO who celebrates Design Thinking.
Ideation Methods to Select IdeasOnce the Ideation session is complete, the ideas must be collected, categorized, refined, and narrowed down, so the team is able to select the best solutions, ideas, and strategies from a shortlist. These methods can help you select the best idea at the end of an Ideation session:
In the following section, we’ll provide you with a brief introduction to some of the best methods. Post-it Voting or Dot VotingAuthor/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0In post-it voting, all members are given a number of votes (three to four should do) in order to choose their favorite ideas. Ideas that are generated in the Ideation sessions are written down on individual post-its, and members can vote by using stickers or a marker to make a dot on the post-it note corresponding to the ideas they like. This process allows every member to have an equal say in choosing from the shortlisted ideas. Four Categories MethodAuthor/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0The four categories method involves dividing ideas according to their relative abstractness, ranging from the most rational choice to the 'long shot' choice. The four categories are the rational choice, the most likely to delight, the darling, and the long shot. Members then decide upon one or two ideas for each of these categories. This method ensures that the team covers all grounds, from the most practical to those ideas with the most potential to deliver innovative solutions. Bingo SelectionAuthor/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0Similarly, the Bingo selection method inspires members to divide ideas. However, in this method, contributors are encouraged to split ideas according to a variety of form factors, such as their potential application in a physical prototype, a digital prototype, and an experience prototype. The Take AwayIdeation is often the most exciting stage in a Design Thinking project because almost unrestrained free thinking can occur within the given field. In the Ideation stage, the aim is to generate a large number of ideas — ideas that potentially inspire newer, better ideas — which the team can then filter and narrow down into the best, most practical, or most innovative ones. There are many great methods that can help the design team during the Ideation sessions. References & Where to Learn MoreCourse: “Design Thinking - The Ultimate Guide”. IDEO U: Brainstorming. d.school: “How might we” questions. d.school, An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS GUIDE. Hero Image: Author/Copyright holder: Adriadne. Copyright terms and license: CC0 In which technique of Visualisation all possible different way of generating the idea is thought about?Mind maps are a tool used to visualize and organize information. Capturing your free flow of ideas using a mind map during brainstorming will help you quickly make sense of the relationships between the information you come up with. They are also a great way to break down an idea and analyze it.
What are the techniques of idea generation?18 idea generation techniques besides brainstorming. Reverse brainstorming. ... . Brainwriting. ... . Brain netting. ... . Forced relationships. ... . Role-storming. ... . Storyboarding. ... . Five whys. ... . Six thinking hats.. What are the 4 brainstorming techniques?4 group brainstorming techniques. Mind mapping. Mind mapping is a non-linear, visual brainstorming method that helps groups hone in on the question or topic and connect the dots between different ideas. ... . Brainwriting. ... . Rapid ideation. ... . Starbursting.. What is a brainstorming technique that allows you to identify the relationship among the concepts?Concept maps are a learning and teaching technique that is used to identify the relationships between ideas or concepts. They help properly structure thoughts that are thrown around in a brainstorming session in a way that is easier to understand.
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