BRAINSTORMING
Objective:
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To generate individual ideas with minimal disturbance and anchoring
Method:
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Arrange 4-8 people with sticky notes and markers/pens.
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Make care the objective of this brainstorming session and ensures the understanding of everyone.
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Generate ideas and write/draw them on the sticky notes.
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After a certain time (usually 3-5 min), collect sticky notes and listen to each person explaining their ideas.
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Combine identical ideas and arrange the others accordingly.
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Conclude with a discussion on the next step (e.g. eliminating ideas, converging...).
Key tips:
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Avoid criticizing ideas/suspend judgment. All ideas are as valid as each other.
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Avoid any discussion of ideas or questions, as these stop the flow of ideas.
Flexibilities:
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The length of a brainstorming session can be long or short, depending on the problem being solved and expected outcome.
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Researching can be allowed or not depending on whether more developed solutions or bald ones are expected
SCAMPER
Objective:
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To provide different thinking approaches to develop innovative ideas and solutions from current ones.
Method:
Given already exist design concepts and/or products, go through the list below. Take enough time for each issue and develop at least one idea for each of them.
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Substitute
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Different process, positions, music, elements from other countries, etc.?
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Combine
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Is it part of a bigger picture, etc.?
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Adapt
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What's similar, what are parallels, what can you imitate?
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Modify, minify or magnify
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Can you change color, moving, size, shape, tone, smell, etc.?
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Increasing frequency, size, height, length, distance, etc.?
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Lighter, smarter, etc.?
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Put to another use
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Is another use possible, etc.?
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Eliminate or elaborate
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Without specific part of the project?
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Reverse
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How to mirror the ideas, etc.?
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Key tips:
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There is no sequential flow to follow while moving from each of the seven thinking techniques.
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The principle of force fitting should be adapted during the thinking sessions. For example, any response to the SCAMPER technique is welcomed no matter how non-logical it sounds.
MORPH CHART
Objective:
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To find new combinations of products or services which are sufficiently similar to be discussed together.
Method:
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Formulate the problem to be solved as accurately as possible.
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Identify all the parameters (i.e. functions and subfunctions).
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Construct a morphological chart (a matrix), with parameters as the columns.
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Fill the rows with the components that belong to that particular parameter.
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Components can be found by analyzing similar products or thinking up new principles for the parameters (functions).
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Analysis of rows and grouping of parameters to limit the number of principal solutions.
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Create principal solutions by combining at least one component from each parameter.
Key tips:
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When a combination of components has yielded a principal solution, be sure to draw all the components when developing the solution principle in sketches.
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Challenge yourself by making counter-intuitive combinations of components.
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Do not describe the components in words, but use pictograms or symbols to indicate them.