Brainstorming is one of the most common strategies for fostering a spontaneous flow of ideas. It is a useful method in many situations involving creativity and cognitive processes. Whether you want to design a new corporate product or a theme for an oil painting, this article can help you stimulate the production of ideas. Read on to learn more.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Laying the Foundation
Step 1. Consider your goal
Before thinking about the steps required for your goal, think about what you intend to achieve. This can give you a good starting point, some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.
- Do you want to collect ideas for your company?
- Are you trying to come up with an idea for a future art project?
- Are you trying to come up with an idea for an article?
Step 2. Understand any requirements
If your work is going to be reviewed by a professor, employer, client, or someone else, try to understand what they expect or need. If not, simply consider the limits you need to adhere to and the ultimate goal the product should achieve. Overcoming the restrictions can sometimes result in a better experience or end result, but knowing all your limitations will give you a good framework to start working on.
- For example, do you have to stick to a certain budget?
- Do you only have to use certain raw materials?
- Should the project be completed by a certain date?
Step 3. List and evaluate your assumptions and assumptions
Obviously you will have some in relation to the project. What is the recipient looking for? What are your limits? What is acceptable or normal? In general, what should the final result be? Make a list of these assumptions, so you can use them to guide you later.
- For example, are you considering an art project? Then you might assume that the recipient is looking for a particular color palette that fits the theme of the exhibition in their gallery.
- For a business project, you can assume that customers want a product with aspects that aren't guaranteed by the competitor's offer.
Step 4. Evaluate the tools you need to work with
Carefully review what you have done in the past, what you have already achieved, and what you have in terms of resources. This will give you some general guidelines to stick to during the project.
- What types of tools do you need to use?
- Which raw materials or professionals have you not used for a long time?
- What did you feel the year before and how could you improve it?
- Ask others to give you their opinions.
Part 2 of 3: Finding Inspiration
Step 1. Do your research
Learn about the actions implemented by people who have worked on similar projects. Google will be of great help to you in this search. You shouldn't inquire about someone else's doing to copy. Instead, you should understand why some of their ideas aren't up to par and what aspects of their project might suit yours.
Step 2. Observe the work of the innovators
Once you learn about the actions of ordinary people, find out about those of innovators. Try to find innovative, niche ideas or techniques that others have tried. Maybe you want to do similar experiments too. These innovations can make you stand out, making you unique, memorable and interesting.
Step 3. Go elsewhere
Get out of your usual environment. It's a great way to break out of the classic creative spiral, break a barrier, and think about things you might never have considered before. Go for a walk, visit a craftsman or farm in your area, or work in a coffee shop for some time. Any change in context that you are used to can help you think in different ways.
Step 4. Keep a journal by the bed
Always leave it on the bedside table. Also, put a waterproof notebook near the bathtub. Good ideas often come when you are taken by something else, only then they get lost on the way because in the meantime other distractions appear. By keeping pen and paper close at hand, you'll be able to quickly jot down your thoughts before they escape you.
Step 5. Take breaks
It is important to unplug to free your mind from all vicious circles and negativity. When you think and think again but the ideas don't seem to come, many times you end up being obsessed with this lack of insights, so it becomes impossible to focus.
Try having a healthy snack, chat with a co-worker, or get a quick household chore (like washing up the night before) done
Step 6. Turn off criticism
During a brainstorm, they don't help. To find new ideas, you need almost absolute freedom, with very few boundaries. Defer criticism until you have a long list of possibilities.
If you are brainstorming with other people, you may need to remind someone to keep their negative opinions to themselves until the brainstorm is completed
Part 3 of 3: Brainstorming techniques
Step 1. Warm up
Don't try to come up with ideas out of the blue. It would be like starting to run wild without jogging first. Do a quick exercise to have a good mindset, such as planning the weekly menu or writing a list of everything you would like to achieve at work, school or anywhere else.
Step 2. Change your perspective
Put yourself in the shoes of the competition. Consider what you are doing now and try to figure out how to overcome yourself. How would a competitor examine you, how would they improve what you do? What would it change? Which direction would the project lead to?
Step 3. Establish your obstacles
Determining new roadblocks on your path to your goal, such as a lower budget, a new deadline, or a specific material to use, can make you more creative and innovative. It might also give you an idea if you haven't been able to get one before.
Step 4. Make a mind map
It is one of the most popular tools for gathering ideas. You should write one or more ideas on a post-it. Stick it to the wall and then expand the basic concept with more post-its. Write your every single thought on each piece of paper and start relating the ideas.
Step 5. Create categories of ideas
Make three: easy ideas, difficult ideas, and crazy ideas. Try to come up with at least five ideas per category. Usually, when you think about ideas that you believe to be infeasible or that you shouldn't actually put into action, you discover possibilities that can actually be used.
Step 6. Write a poem, analysis or review
Write a poem that describes what you are trying to do. You can also write an analysis or speculative review about what you hope to create. Summarizing what you want to achieve from the project, it may be easier to think about the right methods to do so.
Step 7. Re-launch an old technique
Take something you've done in the past, a long time ago, and find a way to update it. You can also use old concepts that don't belong to you and find ways to fit them into this era. For example, Twitter initially was essentially a tool for sending telegrams over the internet. Some of the most popular current products make use of classic creations.
Step 8. Use an online idea generator
It can be quite a useful tool in the beginning, even if it is simply used to warm up. Don't feel burdened or forced to implement the ideas he offers you, but try to use them as a starting point. Try the following (they are in English, but the use is intuitive):
- https://ideagenerator.creativitygames.net/.
- https://www.lib.odu.edu/researchassistance/ideagenerator/.
- https://www.afflated.org/.
Step 9. Continue asking questions
Always do it. Ask questions about yourself. Ask questions about the people you work with to brainstorm. Ask questions about your friends and family. The questions lead us to really think about aspects that have been neglected or treated superficially on a mental level. Ask detailed questions, questions that really get to the heart of the matter. Don't settle for short, obvious answers.
- Why do you want to paint in oil?
- Why does your customer want a certain product?
Step 10. Don't waste time
There are so many little exercises, like mind maps, that can really come in handy. However, many times they are also distractions and can keep you from actually getting the job done. Don't waste too much time gathering ideas; instead, try to get to the point as quickly as possible.
Step 11. Write with the flow of consciousness
Writing freely means starting from a point and not stopping. This exercise also involves free associations, which allow you to naturally follow the direction of your thoughts, without trying to direct the current. Simply write a sentence related to the topic you are trying to gather ideas about and then follow the brain. Write down all the words that flow into your inner monologue, without blocking yourself to think rationally. You never know where it will take you.
Advice
- Keep the sheets on which you wrote down your ideas: it is impossible to predict when you might need them.
- Don't discard an idea right away. Keep writing and see where your thoughts take you.
- Brainstorming is an exercise that must be done without filters. Do not try to correct yourself during the process, as otherwise you could have a bad result.
- Try brainstorming with a friend. Maybe he will have different ideas, so your collaboration could lead to a perfect and mutually beneficial result.
- Don't be afraid of crazy thoughts.
- While brainstorming, it can be helpful to listen to classical, jazz or any other music, but without lyrics (words shouldn't distract you and get in your way).
- Try the game of imagination in your free time. Look at an object and try to associate it with something else. Then, connect this last thing to another. Example: apple → banana → banana peel → comedy → funny → clown → circus → lion, and so on. Get involved in the game.
- Brainstorming can be difficult in the first few sessions, but don't give up on yourself. If that doesn't work, try again.
- Have extra pens and pencils and a thick notebook available. This way, you will have a good supply of tools to keep your work flow seamlessly.
- As stated earlier, use post-its. Whenever you think of something (anything), write it down on a note and stick it on somewhere. It might come in handy and fit into your final project.
- Keep gathering ideas, even if you think of a good one at the beginning of the session and think you don't need anything else. In fact, you may have other insights that are just as good, or even better.
Warnings
- Brainstorming can be quite frustrating at times, so remember to take a break every now and then.
- There is no guarantee that brainstorming will work to beat severe writer's block, but it should help you do a good mental warm-up and give you an idea of the direction to go with the writing process.
