Idea Generation

• Pencil for a walk is a technique which involves drawing an unbroken line, often with rounded corners or edges, to help create unusual shapes to inspire a design.
• Brainstorming usually involves a group discussion to produce ideas or solve problems.
• Brainstorming is a good technique for generating ideas and stimulate creative thinking whether you have a lot of ideas to begin with or your mind is ‘blank’.
• Brainstorming helps organise and gather ideas into a more manageable structure.
• If undertaken as a group, brainstorming is effective in exploring different points of view.
• The focus of brainstorming is on quantity not quality.
• In the process of brainstorming, the first stage is planning which involves identifying the purpose of the brainstorming session, considering the size of the group, and inviting suitable people to take part.
• The conducting stage of brainstorming involves getting the group to rephrase the question, having a warm-up session, establishing rules, setting a time limit, avoiding moments of silence and maintaining momentum, and recording every thought.
• The summary stage of brainstorming involves discussing the most unusual ideas, disregarding the weakest ideas, and identifying the most promising ideas.
• Morphological analysis is a structured way of generating new ideas which helps to explore multiple different options for the product that may not have been thought of otherwise.
• In the planning stage of morphological analysis, the problem or product is analysed, factors that will be/are important to solving the problem or improving the product are identified, a range of different options for each factor are generated, and a matrix is produced.
• During the using stage of morphological analysis, options are randomly or systematically selected from each factor to produce different alternatives.
• The summary stage of morphological analysis involves disregarding the weakest ideas and identifying the most promising ideas.