ideation
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Where do good ideas come from? From having lots of lots of ideas, of course!Here's a few pointers to jolt your brain so good, original thoughts start flowing out...TRANSCRIPT
5 Ways to Jolt Your Ideasinto Being
Before You Start:Do you know your problem/theme?
• What are you ideating on?
• More you know about the problem, the better ideas you will have.
1. Take a Hike.Pick something to focus on:
• Shape (circle, triangle, square, etc... Pick just one)
• Color
• Size
What do you see now?
2. Role-Play.Who can you pretend to be?
• Get rid of your own fi lters.
• e.g. What if you were a 3-year-old?
3. Read (duh...).Pick a random page.
• Randomize your input; anything can be a source (encyclopeadia, newspa-per, junk-mail, a book...).
• Limit your intake, time yourself(e.g., 5 min).
4. Change One Thing.
Take an existing idea, and...
• Use it diff erently
• Change color/shape
• Scale up/down
• Substitute its parts
• Change the order
• Turn it upside down/sideways
• Combine it with something
5. Idea Grid, or ‘Fractal Tic-Tac-Toe.’Put the main theme or an idea to expand
on in the middle:
• Fill the rest of the “board” with variations, associated ideas, new ideas.
• When something promising comes up, start a new grid with it in the middle.
• You can go anywhere, tangentically (and tangents are Good)!
THANK YOU.Sources & Further Reading:
Kougu—Tools for Thinking (考具). (In Japanese) By Masaharu Kato, ISBN4-484-
03205-8
FOCUS. The Catalyst for Innovation. By Betsy Burroughs, http://www.focuscatalyst.
com/FocusCatalyst/Book.html
Six Thinking Hats. By Edward De Bono,
ISBN0-316-17791-1