Ideation is the support beam of the of the design thinking process. Once the problem has been identified and established, ideation branches out into the creative side of possibility.
Ideation is the process of generating a broad set of ideas on a given topic, with no attempt to judge or evaluate them. Mentally, ideation represents a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and outcomes.
The central focus of the ideation stage is creativity. Narrowing the scope of ideas can stifle creativity, creating parameters that may do more harm than good. It’s easier to scale back a crazy idea than it is to shoehorn a narrow idea. And it is certainly better to have too many ideas than to put all of a team’s time and energy into one just for it to not work. The probability of hitting the optimal region of the design space is extremely low, while the probability of having one of many come close is much higher. We all can’t be John Wayne and do it all in one take, so it’s best to have options.
There are hundreds of forms of ideation that can be used individually or in a group, but they all share three fundamental traits:
Ideas are not evaluated. The goal of these sessions is to come up with ideas, not weed them out. All evaluation does at this stage is stifle creativity.
Ideas are recorded and the session is documented. It is important to remember everything your team comes up with, even if it isn’t all used. Recording can be as simple as jotting down thoughts on a Post-It note. These artifacts can serve as very useful inspiration in the future.
Collaboration spurs diverse ideas. While there is nothing wrong with individual ideation, it is always nice to get an outside opinion. More opinions contribute to more diverse ideas.
Ideation can be as simple as a cluster of Post It notes / Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash
Many ideation methods fall under the umbrella of Brainstorming. Braindumping, Mindmapping, and Brainwriting are all forms of coming up with as many ideas as possible, setting aside real-world constraints like feasibility or viability. The focus is to improve the user experience. One exercise, Worst Possible Idea, encourages participants to come up with the worst solution they can think of to a problem. This exercise takes the stress of the participants by not focusing on the “right” answer and allows the team to be more adventurous. It can also be surprising! All it takes is one person thinking, “You know what? That’s not that bad of an idea…”
Another exercise that encourages participants to think outside the box is Ideation Mash Up. Developed by IDEO, Mash Ups are a fast and fun way to bring odd and unexpected elements together to spark fresh ideas. They follow a four-step process:
Frame: Define the “How Might We” statement.
Narrow: Pick two broad, unrelated categories (like hospitals and hotels).
Generate: List as many elements that you can think of in two minutes for each experience.
Mash Up: Combine items from the two lists to ideate new products, services, and experiences.
For example, I did a Mash Up of my own.
My mash up of home exercise elements and professional wrestling elements
After last year many people, myself included, began working out from home. It seemed like a lot of people had the motivation outside of a gym membership to actually go through with what they said they were going to do. My HMW statement was: How Might We get beginners to work out at home?
I took inspiration from the theatrics of professional wrestling.
The Buddy System
Involving another person encourages someone to go through with plans that they’ve made. Taking the idea of tag teams, partners motivate people to stay accountable and makes it harder to put off work outs. With countless platforms available to video call, partners don’t even need to be in the same room, city, or country to work out together.
Online Leader Board
There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition! An online leader board gives people something to work towards and helps set up personal goals. Keeping track of other people’s progress gives naturally competitive people engage with others and less competitive people realistic goals to aim for.
Trendy Sportswear
Playing off the idea of “look good, play good”, spending money on fashionable athletic wear is a good motivating factor to get someone to work out. Wearing cute outfits can be a motivating factor for some people (see: me).
Rewards System
Something that can go hand in hand with an online leader board, a rewards system encourages healthy competition and creates a sense of accomplishment. Badges or titles can be awarded to people who log or record certain statistics from certain workouts.
See the full exercise here.
Like brainstorming, the more ideas you come up with the higher probability of hitting the optimal design region. Ideation Mash Up encourages participants to bring together elements that wouldn’t usually be associated and build off what they find there. By avoiding early evaluation and opening our minds to deeper exploration leads us to more innovation and insight. Only by casting a wide net can we uncover the most optimal solution.
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