Design Thinking

IDEATE

Considering all possible solutions

Course Content for ENT3607 Innovation by Design - Syllabus

Design Thinking > How Might We > Team > Plan > Empathize > Synthesize > Reframe > Ideate > Select > Build > Pitch

Ideation is the process of coming up with ideas for solutions - starting with exploring wild unconventional ideas, ending with high-quality, impactful, and feasible solutions.

Ideation Basics

In the Ideation Stage we utilize several activities that allow group members to discover innovative ideas for solutions they would never think of on their own.

Before beginning the activities, consider the forms a solution might take:

  • a physical invention (examples: a parking space sensor, a grocery cart bar-code scanner)

  • a service (examples: door-to-door laundry pick-up in student housing, coffee shop tutoring sessions)

  • an app (examples: parking space sharing app, workout buddy pairing app)

  • a system (examples: a community co-op market for homegrown produce, textbook sharing)

  • a combination of the above (example: Sensors in chairs that inform students where there are open seats in the Library via an app)

The ideation activities are designed to get at every idea for a solution you can imagine. Your goal is to come up with dozens if not hundreds of solution ideas without regard to feasibility and without committing to any single idea. Remain open minded and allow one idea to lead to another, even better idea!

Recall that an innovative idea is one that no one else has thought of. Be original! Think outside the box!

In the next stage you will implement a selection method - called Idea Filtering, to reduce your solutions to the best three.

Design Thinking Brainstorming

Many people have strong feelings about “Brainstorming” either hating or loving it! Often times, in traditional Brainstorming sessions the loudest voice prevails and the best ideas may never be heard. Design Thinking eliminates the negative and accentuates the positive aspects of this important activity.

Design Thinking Brainstorming

  • Independent Brain Storming First. Before sharing ideas with others, take time to generate your own ideas without the influence of others.

  • Your sticky note is your voice. Write ideas down with just a few words. Use sticky notes to record your ideas, even if someone else is talking, capture it, and share it!

  • Go for quantity. Ideation is about generating as many ideas as possible, pushing your creativity, and building off one another's ideas. Crazy is encouraged!

  • Don't Judge. Tap into everyone's creativity by being supportive. What seems unfeasible to you might be part of a great, disruptive concept. Don't shut people down. Instead respond with “yes! and…”

  • Be Respectful. Ideation is energizing, and people can get excited. Make room for everyone, encourage introverts to share. Listen attentively and affirm understanding.

Activities

  • Mental Agility Warmup: Solutions A-Z

    In-class team activity
    5 minutes

    This can be framed as a contest.

    Each team come up with possible solutions to your design challenge utilizing every letter of the alphabet. Use descriptive titles no larger than three words. For example, if you were working on Amazon’s shipping challenge, you might come up with [A]utomated robotic delivery, [B]ulk buying discounts, [C]ustomer pickup locations, [D]rones, etc. As a team, fill out at least one sticky note for each letter within five minutes. Tip: Divide and Conquer!

    Place a star by ideas that have serious potential for future reference.

  • Brainstorming: First Burst Affinity Map

    In-class team activity
    30 minutes

    Goal: Get all solution ideas out of your head

    1. Silently, independently, brainstorm, writing down all your ideas for SOLUTIONS to your HMW on sticky notes - serious, crazy, and everything in between. Use descriptive titles, no details.

    When you’ve accumulated a significant amount of sticky notes (ideas) share them with the group as you post them on the whiteboard.

    Group and cluster your ideas as they start to build up on the whiteboard. Label groupings.

    Place a star by ideas that have serious potential for future reference.

    Take photos/screenshots, keep your board in tact for others to examine in the next step.

  • Think Different

    In-class team activity
    30 minutes

    Goal: come up with new solution ideas by reviewing solutions to different problems

    Cycle around the room or virtual break-out rooms and check out other group's affinity maps related to different HMW’s than your own.

    Are there any solutions to other HMW’s that spark an idea for your own?

    Return to your table and share new ideas by adding them to your Affinity Map.

    Place a star by ideas that have serious potential for future reference.

  • Think Wrong

    In-class team activity
    20 minutes

    Goal: Develop new solution ideas by considering random words and relating them to the problem

    Each team generates three random words using https://randomwordgenerator.com/

    At the top of your whiteboard, write down the words you randomly generated.

    Build another Affinity Map, or build onto the Affinity Map from the previous activity, brainstorming independently using random word association with the words you generated together, individually, or in pairs to inspire a new solution to your Design Challenge. Experiment with changing the order of the words to see if that sparks any new ideas.

    Example: Using the random word “cheese” to develop a solution for parking issues on campus.
    Cheese > dairy > cows > herds > grazing > fields > an astroturf that allows sports fields to double as parking lots when not in use for sporting events. Or perhaps cheese makes you think about hers of cows and buses, or stalls and time-sharing. The goal is to get at non-obvious solutions.

    Place a star by ideas that have serious potential for future reference.

  • Brand Hack

    In-class team activity
    20 minutes

    Goal: develop new solutions based on popular brands

    Your team has been taken over by a prestigious company (McDonalds, Ikea, Amazon, Nike, Hallmark, FedEx, etc). Develop ideas that follow your new brand’s mission, vision, and values.

    Start with some research on your brand’s mission, vision, and values.

    Example: if you were taken over by Ikea, you might consider ways to flat pack your solution. Disney might provide a solution that was a themed experience, AirBnB might empower the public to provide services needed in order to make some extra cash.

    Place a star by ideas that have serious potential for future reference.

  • Brain Writing

    In-class team activity
    20 minutes

    This activity is all about building off of other people's ideas to think imaginatively about the details of an idea.

    Sit with your team around a table or in a virtual breakout room.

    Each person take two minutes to simultaneously write out their favorite idea for a design solution on a blank sheet of letter size paper, or in different areas of a shared virtual whiteboard.

    After two minutes, everyone passes their paper to the left or moves to a teammates area.

    Everyone reads their teammates idea, and takes two minutes to build on the idea with more details or features.

    Repeat the above two steps until everyone gets their original idea back.

    Review and discuss the ideas that were generated.

    Save the sheets for future reference.

Check your understanding of Ideation

  1. What is ideation?

  2. What is an innovative idea?

  3. What form(s) might a solution take?

  4. What is the goal of the Ideation stage of Design Thinking?

Resources

Videos