Brainstorming

During criteria B the purpose is to generate as many ideas as you can to address the solution of your problem. Since many minds can come up with more ideas that only one, it is quite useful during this state to organize a brainstorming session.

BEFORE

1. Prepare for Brainstorming

You should plan what are the areas you want help on. You should think on how you want to sit them. You should plan how you are going to use the space available. You should start by remind the brainstorm rules:

DURING

2. Facilitate the brainstorming

Create some initial questions to start the thinking process.

If you get stuck you can also use some of this suggested questions:

3. Select the most promising ideas

Cluster any related ideas and have the team pick their favorite 3 ideas. But try to collect any of them since they may inspire you later on.

4. Sketch

Pick one of the favorite ideas from the session and flesh out the concept through a quick sketch or two. Ask the other group members for feedback about the favorite parts of the sketch as well as what areas they think could be improved.

Take notes.

AFTER

5. Refine ideas

You need to consolidate all that came out in the brainstorming session with what you had in mind initially. You also need to do a reality check. These questions can guide you through this process:

• what is the core of your idea: what gets you excited about it?
• what is the most important value for your audience?
• what is the real need this is addressing?
• what is possible to make? (reality check)
• what are the challenges and barriers?
• what are you missing?
• who would oppose the idea?
• what will be most difficult to overcome?
• what are other ways in which you could address the needs differently?

This reflection should be in your process journal since it is going to give you the justification for your final design.

6. Sketch and present the three final ideas to the rest of the class.

In order to create a simple description of your idea you can follow this format:

(Content adapted from Ideo’s Design Kit + illustration)