Have you ever had a crazy idea and thought to yourself, “Wow! I wish this really existed!” Me too! This past week, I spent time working on a project that requires me to think outside of the box and develop a product that I really do wish existed. I was tasked with taking a look at my favorite apps that I frequently use, as well as some of my least favorite apps that I do not frequently use. Following this, the next step of the project was to use a variety of different ideation methods to develop ideas for an app that I would love to have access to. While a quick internet search outlines a plethora of potential ideation methods to choose from, I decided to use semantic exploration, brainstorming, and sketchstorming to develop ideas.

Semantic Exploration

Semantic exploration was a great way to get the ball rolling with ideation. I knew I wanted to develop a product that combined organization, creation, and communication in a dashboard-like fashion. Because of this, I decided to use each of those as my topic words. Through the semantic exploration of these words, I was able to identify associated words and phrases of each of my topic words and make connections between each of the identified words and phrases.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is always one of my go-to ideation methods. I am the type of person who allows different ideas to cloud my train of thought, so by getting them out onto paper I am able to think clearly throughout the entire ideation process. The article, “Brainstorming” explains brainstorming as “It’s extremely popular for design teams because they can expand in all directions. Although teams have rules and a facilitator to keep them on track, they are free to use out-of-the-box and lateral thinking to seek the most effective solutions to any design problem.” I found it helpful to follow up semantic exploration with brainstorming because I was able to use the words and phrases identified in the semantic exploration to aid my idea generation in brainstorming.

Sketchstorming

Sketchstorming is a combination of brainstorming and sketching. It is getting ideas out on paper, but instead of just using words and explanations, using sketches. Author, Nick Babich explains, “Sketchstorming not only allows a product team to build a better understanding of the problem space, but it also helps them to quickly uncover many potential solutions before diving deep into details. Sketchstorming is especially useful in the early stages of the product design process when product teams need to explore the problem space, discuss various ideas, and select the design direction.” I also found it extremely helpful to follow up the first two ideation methods with sketchstorming. By doing so, I was able to use the ideas generated in the first two phases to assist in the visual development of the product.

I would recommend that anyone looking to work on developing their ideation skills try this out themselves! You do not have to be a designer to participate in ideation sessions, even if you’re conducting them all by yourself! Push yourself to think more creatively than you think you can, and reap the benefits of pushing the boundaries and thinking outside of the box.