Method Category: Generate ideas

  • Negative brainstorming

    Negative brainstorming

    Purpose

    This method encourages you to explore new solutions through negative thinking. This gives you new angles on plausible solutions, from using the things you thought where not useful.

    Example

    A group is tasked with finding solutions to the question ‘How could you make children and grand parents understand each other more?’ In negative brainstorming the group tries to find the worst solutions, and then transforming these into useful solutions.

    These are examples of bad solution:

    • To build a wall between old and young people.
    • To put them in two different buildings so they never meet.
    • Make a machine that really distracts the youngsters so they don’t want to spend time with the elders.

    A transformed bad solution would be:

    • Create a retirement home with a kindergarten in the middle. The elders could then come by and help when they have time.

    Facilitator role:


    The facilitator is there to give the group instructions for the brainstorming session. It is the facilitators role to make sure that the work is conducted according to rules and frameworks established by the group.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it to brainstorm on really bad solutions?
    • How can this be used in different contexts?
  • C.I.A. (Crazy Idea Brainstorm)

    C.I.A. (Crazy Idea Brainstorm)

    Purpose

    Create new ideas that you never thought about before. Bonus: Bigger understanding among cuisine du monde and music.

    Instructions

    Before starting, all participants have prepared a dish or a drink from another country, which they are bringing to the potluck and a song to go with theme. The taste has to be a culture-specific taste. For example: brie cheese could represent France and chicken masala would represent India, etc.

    1. Everyone in the group writes down 3 problems on a note and then put the note into a hat.
    2. Get inspired by the music and the color, taste and form of the -food and find associations to solve your problem. Write down your ideas on notes and say them loud for everyone to hear. Choose a new problem after 5 minutes or when you get stuck. Think big with no limits and remember to use Say yes! And…
    3. Choosing your idea:
      – Collect the notes that you want to keep.
      – Choose your favorite solution and write it down on a new note.
      – Select your final idea by using the Idea voting
    4. When you you have your final idea ready, the group should divide into groups of two.
      Each group will then open up the final idea and brainstorm for another 10 minutes. And the present it for the rest of the group. Each group have 1 minute present their solution.Optional: Tweet your idea – Use your network to share you’re idea in order to keep others building own it and to get some feedback. 
    5. Make a prototype of your idea.

    Facilitator role:

    Take time and to signal when it’s time for a new problem or task.

    Timeframe:

    2 hours, preferably doing an extra long lunch.

    Reflection questions:

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for your work? In what way?
  • Visualize it!

    Visualize it!

    Purpose

    One important step in the process of producing a theatre performance is to create a poster. Most often you make the poster long before you even know how the show will look like. To be forced to make something that concrete in such an early stage, to see it before it happens, to fantasize, to make it representative for what you want to do – is something that is very hard – but very important for the remaining process. To visualize the core of an idea early on is something that benefits all projects. It pushes you to take some decisions and give you a direction of where to go next.

    Instructions

    • Place a large paper on a big table!
    • Participants should grab equipment (such as images, texts, colors, photos, objects) that they feel represent the core of your project (30 min)
    • Put all the material on the big table. Make a collage of the material you find that describe the mood or feel of your concept. (20 min)
    • Have a look at your moodboard and pick three things that stands out. (30 min)
    • Analyze these 3 main things and combine them into 1 idea. Visualize this 1 idea in a new way. Be creative! (60 min)

    Facilitator role

    • Keep track on time! The time frames are there to push the creativity.
    • Find some theatre posters that can inspire the work!

    Whenever you might feel off track later during the process, you have a compass to pick up and guide you.

  • Idea Speed Dating

    Idea Speed Dating

    Purpose

    This is a great way for a group to quickly come up with many ideas and to have people build on other’s ideas. The end result is a beautiful mural of thoughts that can be used as inspiration throughout events now and in the future.

    Instructions

    • Find a table (or series of tables) that is big enough for everyone in the group to sit around. People should fit tightly, and be shoulder to shoulder along all sides.
    • Place a large roll of paper that covers the entire table.
    • Make sure that everyone has something to draw with. Try having lots of colours.
    • Have the facilitator start playing music. Each person must start writing down an idea about the topic at hand.
    • After about 2 minutes, the music should stop. Everyone should take a step to their left so they are in the position that their neighbour was previously in.
    • The music starts again, and people must now build off of their neighbour’s idea.
    • Repeat steps 5 & 6 until the whole roll of paper is covered in ideas!

    Do

    • Stay open and positive during idea generation sessions.
    • Be creative with how you represent your ideas. Drawings & prototypes are encouraged. The bigger the better.

    Don’t

    • Judge ideas during idea generation sessions.
    • Write negative comments, or cross things out.

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator’s role is in starting & stopping the music, and making sure that people are properly moving in the right direction. The facilitator also decides when the session is over.

  • Combining ideas

    Combining ideas

    Quick introduction

    Combining unrelated ideas is a central core in creative thinking. It’s a way to develop ideas, allowed in many formats, try them out and choose the one that fits you the best!

    Purpose

    Combining unrelated ideas often doubles or triples the value, or the possibilities of an idea.

    Instructions

    Start with picking either two random words from the list below (or you could also pick them from a magazine, a text or stuff you’re randomly exposed to). Start by examine the two words you’ve picked narrowly, think about both of them separately, possibly even look them up at Wikipedia, what’s the function of the different words, what can they be used for and what are they.
    Once the picture is clear: start combining! Think about how both things can relate to each other. As an example, how could skis be used on Route 66? Surely something like roller skis pops up as an idea, but continue combining, how could skis and Route 66 add up to something creating value together? Maybe there could be a contest on roller skis at Route 66? And so on.

    A lot of ideas don’t have an obvious immediate application, but for someone a bit more specialized within a certain field there could beobvious other connections. And that’s the whole beauty with the exercise, we all combine different ideas depending on who we are and what we know of. So, also use this as an opportunity where you can invite someone with a completely different knowledge field to do the exercise with you!

    List of words to combine

    Drums, Candy, Nose, Burp, Savanna, Mozzarella, Circus, Cow, NASA, Screw driver, Ballet, Norway, Bicycle, Steel, Sweat, Cooperation, Winning, Camera, Wi-fi, Route 66, Coffee, Wish, Gym, Love, Skis etc.

    This exercise can be done individually or in group. And it could also benefit from starting with ideas you already have. If so then start with these and add words either randomly or from a list, or by asking yourself the questions below in order to add elements that can be useful to combine.

    Extended questions

    • What can be combined?
    • Can purposes be combined?
    • How can a combination be packaged?
    • How can possible usabilities be multiplied?
    • Could there be a blend? A collection?
    • What other units can you think of combining? New materials to combine? An emotion or a color to mix in?

    Do

    • Try out the exercise both by writing and painting the things you think about.
    • Try out the exercise alone and together with someone else, and take the opportunity to ask someone with experience of another field than yours.

    Don’t

    Think to much about what’s possible or not.

    Take it to seriously, have fun and think out of the box while exercising.

    Reflection questions

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for your work? In what way?
  • Switch it brainstorm

    Switch it brainstorm

    Brainstorming in a group can be a very effective way to come up with a lot of ideas, but the method also has many limitations and obstacles to overcome in order to generate good results:

    • everyone tries hard to make their own voice heard so that they forget to listen to each other
    • the noise makes it hard to think
    •  it is easy to implement the “yes and” verbally but it is much harder to control your body language
    • the solutions that the group come up with are very similar since they are inspired by each other
    • in the end you have a lot of ideas but they are only sparks and need a lot of development

    Purpose

    This method gives you space to come up with ideas and develop your own thoughts individually before presenting them to a group. Everyone gets a chance to make their ideas heard, you will end up with a bigger spectrum of solutions and during the meeting you will have more time to develop the ideas.

    Instructions

    This method can be used by a group of 2-6 people. It is better to keep it small, otherwise it will be hard to hear everyone out within the time frame.

    5 min: Idea generate individually.

    20 min: Get together in the group to share you ideas with each other. Everyone votes for the idea they like the best through idea voting and the best ideas are then developed together by the group through regular brainstorming.

    5 min: After the sharing and development of the best ideas is completed the group separates to further idea generate individually for 5 minutes more. You can either focus on coming up with new ideas or build on ideas from the previous sharing.

    20 min: Get together for the last time to share your individual thoughts and once again develop the ideas the group likes the best. Before finishing the meeting, write down the best ideas the group came up with to develop further in new sessions.

    If possible it can be a good idea to present the problem to the team a couple of days ahead of the workshop to give them more time to think about and develop ideas prior to the meeting.

    Because the ideas are generated individually the members wont be as biased from hearing others’ thoughts and the ideas will be more distinct from each other. When gathering in the group to share ideas everyone will have something to present and it is not only the person who talks the loudest that will be heard.

    Do

    • Present your ideas swiftly and concisely so that everyone will have time to share their own.

    Don’t

    • Come up with and share new ideas during the 20 minute sharing period.

    Example

    A group is tasked with finding solutions to the question “How could kids be encouraged to read more books?”

    After a quick gathering to go over the guidelines of the session the group splits and everyone finds their own corner where they think about solutions to the problem for 5 minutes.

    When the group gathers again everyone shares what they came up with. To present they show quick sketches they made on a piece of paper and explains it with a few sentences.

    The solutions span from anything from applications and games to interactive books and rewards. Everyone presented their ideas within 1-2 minutes and they now have 10 minutes left for voting on their favorites and develop them.

    After working as a group for 20 minutes everyone once again gets 5 minutes individually to come up with more ideas or develop the best ideas from previous sharing.

    When the 5 minutes are over the group comes together for one last 20 minute session to share their ideas and vote on their favorites. The best ideas in this round were more focused on how to reward kids for reading but also how to make them read by customizing books to fit the reader.

    Before the session is over the facilitator summarizes the best ideas for the group to make sure that everyone agrees and keeps the sketches for further development.

    Facilitator role

    The facilitator’s role is to keep track of the time and make sure that the group moves on to the next phase when it is time to do so. The facilitator also makes sure that everyone gets to present their ideas to the whole group so that no one feels left out and to summarize the result of the group’s discussions and keep the notes from the session for further development.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project?
  • Brain shifter

    Brain shifter

    Purpose

    Create new ideas that you never thought about before. Bonus: Laugh and have fun in your group while you learn more about yourself and the group.

    Instructions

    1. Start by putting up a large paper on a wall (at least A1 size)
    2. Get in to character by changing your mindset and try to think like another person. E.g imagine that you are a child, a lawyer, a salsa dancer or why not a superhero? The ambitious ones can also dress up as their chosen character to give extra effect to their brainstorm.
    3. Start by drawing your thoughts on the paper. Let’s say you have chosen to be a dancer, then you could for example dance salsa while you draw your ideas on the idea-mindmap. Be sure to take turns in the group.
    4. When the time runs out you should kill your darlings and select the best idea by using Idea voting.

    Do:

    • Think and play around as much as you can.
    • Use a lot of colors when you draw the mindmap.
    • Always build on the ideas of others in order to make this a crazy idea-mindmap

    Don’t:

    • Forget to challenge your comfort zone by choosing new characters.

    Timeframe

    Total time for the brainstorm will be 1 hour. A 45 minutes session with a 10 min break, 15 minutes to kill your darlings.

    During the break you need to do 5 handstand pushups times 3. Take a glass of water and start again. The purpose with this energizer is to get blood to your brain as well as helping you stay in shape.

    Facilitator role:

    Take time on actual brainstorm and to signal when it’s time for a break. The Facilitator should also bring props for the people in your group to fully get into their characters.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for your work? In what way?
  • The Insights Game

    The Insights Game

    Purpose

    When we get older our brain develops it’s ability to connect different facts and see new patterns and challenge old views with new knowledge. As grownups we can not memorise and learn new things as fast as when we where children but because we have more experiences we have a bigger spectrum of information to use to see the big picture. This method will help you to practice your ability to generating insights and see new patterns.

    The basic idea is to take a moment to reflect upon new insights you receive and see if it fits in any patterns already in your head or if it changes any of your previous views. New thoughts creates new connections in your brain and more connections makes it possible for your brain to process even more abstract problems which is a good reason for you to practice this.

    Instructions

    This method is for one person, but the process can of course also be implemented on a group as well. To encourage people to start practising seeing the big pictures and challenge their previous views you can introduce them to the reflection questions.

    You get one point for each insight. You need to have at least one new insight a day, if not it is Game Over and you have to start over with 0 points. For insights that changes your previous view on a subject you get extra points.

    The goal and the reward of this game is that you will improve your ability to see the big picture, process more complex problems and challenge your beliefs. When you reach nirvana you have completed the game!

    Do

    • Write down new insights and ideas when you have them to aloud yourself a moment to reflect upon what it means and how you can use it.
    • Aloud yourself to celebrate your victory’s in the insights game!

    Don’t

    • Neglect your moments of enlightenment. It doesn’t matter how small the insights are, all are valuable.

    Example

    For the past couple of weeks you have noticed that a growing number of people are sharing the same pictures as their friends on their Facebook wall. One day you discover a new share button below photos you post on your wall and you realize that this is the reason why so many of your friends are suddenly sharing the same photos.

    The following day you are reading a blog post on WordPress about Tumblr. The authors opinion about Tumblr users is that they are only re-blogging each others posts without coming up with any new ideas of their own and that the only reason why Tumblr has reached so many users is because it is so easy to regularly update your blog with new content.

    Now you realize that Facebook added the share button to photos to imitate the re-blog function of Tumblr. By acknowledging this new insight you not only learn why Facebook implemented the share button but you also become aware that you have to constantly questions why the sites are changing their products the way they do – in this case to make regular Tumblr users stay on Facebook.

    This process doesn’t take up a lot of your time but it will help you to learn more of what is happening around you and about how you work.

    Facilitator role

    You are the facilitator of your own learning. Use a notebook to take notes of your new insights. You can use these the below questions to get started.

    Reflection questions

    • What happened today?
    • What did I learn from this?
    • How does this fit into the big picture?
    • Does this challenge any of my previous knowledge?
    • How can I use this in other situations?
  • The Lotus model

    The Lotus model

    Quick introduction

    This model keeps your idea organized by building ideas around 1 subject.

    My advice is to use this method after you have created a creative brief from your debrief, in order to know what your focus are. It can be a digital area, a word or anything else as long it works with the debrief.

    Instructions

    1. Start with an area of focus, e.g. Digital Media in the middle.

    2. Fill the center with your focus of choice.

    • Social Media
    • App
    • Interface
    • Flash mobs
    • etc.

    3. Create ideas around each individual subject. For instance – Social media.

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Tumblr
    • etc.

    4. Choose the best areas of focus and create 8 new focus fields around this subject. The focus can become new ideas.
    5. Repeat the step until all areas are covered.

    What is interesting with this process is that you can get a tangible sense of direction from which you can create ideas. Once the lotus is unfolded you can pick out the section that is relevant for your project, and start to create a brainstorm or research session with the different focus areas.

  • The Kipling method

    The Kipling method

    Purpose


    This method could be helpful when you need to see the problem from different perspectives or when you would like to generate ideas. It is also useful  in the process of selecting ideas for further development. It is meant to give a deeper understanding.

    Instructions

    Use this method in a situation when you have a defined problem or idea. Try to challenge yourself or your group by asking the following questions. When forcing yourself or the group to answer the questions you will truly get to know your idea/problem and therefore be able to see its strengths and weaknesses from many different perspectives.

    Extended questions

    • How much?
    • Why not?
    • What time?
    • Which place?
    • Who can?
    • Where else?
    • When?
    • What is the problem?
    • Where is it happening?
    • When is it happening?
    • Why is it happening?
    • How can you overcome this problem?
    • Who do you need to get involved?
    • When will you know that you have solved the problem?

    Example

    • What are we creating? A suit case.
    • Where can we build it? In a factory outside town.
    • When is the right time? Tomorrow.
    • How much time do we need to spend? Three days.
    • Why are we doing that? Because we need it for the vacation.
    • Who is going to see this? Everyone that sees me traveling.
    • What is the purpose? I need something to put my stuff in when traveling.

    Do

    •  Answer your questions.
    •  Be honest.
    •  Challenge yourself with divergent questions.
    •  Be critical.
    •  Be concrete.

    Don’t

    •  Don’t avoid certain questions because you might think they have a simple answer.
    •  Don’t lie.
    •  Don’t focus to much on details.

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator has the responsibility for asking the questions and make sure that all the questions are answered in a concrete way and that the answers benefit the project.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?