Use these practical methods to help you brainstorm better, smarter, and more effectively, no matter the timeline. Using these methods, you can approach a design problem with the right questions so you can focus your creative energy on finding solutions.
11. we’d like you
to create a new
logo and color
palette for our
restaurant…
?
12. we’d like you
to create a new
logo and color
palette for our
restaurant…
why?
stated marketing and design needs are symptoms of larger, systemic business problems.
13. ?
?
Business
problems
?
Marketing +
brand strategy
?
Design
strategy
Tactics ? problems live in
?
different orbits
? within a client
? organization.
?
14. ?
?
Business
problems
?
Marketing +
brand strategy
?
Design
strategy
Tactics ? problems live in
?
different orbits
? within a client
? organization.
?
15. Business proBlem
sales have dropped
20% over this past year. we’d like you
what should we do? to create a new
logo and color
palette for our
restaurant…
?
16. Business proBlem
sales have dropped
20% over this past year. we’d like you
what should we do? to create a new
logo and color
palette for our
our service and restaurant…
menu needs to
be improved? ?
?
we need a ?
more effective ?
website to ? should we
attract new consider
customers? search
our signage is engine ads?
hard to read—
should we try
and redo it?
17. you should
be thinking
outside the box,
but inside
the strategy.
BrainstorminG tip #1 !
18. better ideas faster
turn those
problems
into ideation
questions
1 2 3 4
articulation
21. Business proBlem
sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do? we want a
new identity
system for
our restaurant.
!
we need a !
more effective
website to !
attract new
customers.
we need
to redo our
signage, it’s
hard to read.
22. sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do? not a DesiGn proBlem
can you create a
new identity system
for our restaurant? not a DesiGn proBlem
23. Business proBlem
sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do? we want a
new identity
system for
our restaurant.
?
!
!
!
what is the essence of this
new restaurant identity?
24. sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do? not a DesiGn proBlem
can you create a
new identity system
for our restaurant? not a DesiGn proBlem
What is the essence
of this new restaurant
identity? a DesiGn proBlem!
26. iDeation Questions
what what emotions
metaphors would a person
provide the feel when s/he
appropriate encounters the
meaning for new identity?
the new
identity?
Articulating a design problem
will suggest related questions
that can be answered by design.
27. iDeation Questions
what what emotions what styles of what textures
metaphors would a person typography and graphic
provide the feel when s/he would best elements
appropriate encounters the support this would best
meaning for new identity? feeling? support this
the new feeling?
identity?
what style of what color what materials How does
photography schemes best would best motion—online
or illustration express the express the & in the real
supports the agreed-upon meaning & world—support
meaning you’d meaning & emotion in the meaning DesiGn
of this new eXecution
like to convey? emotion? print?
identity?
Articulating a design problem
will suggest related questions
that can be answered by design.
28. Business proBlem
sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do?
what kind of website functionality
would encourage repeat business?
?
? !
we need a !
more effective
website to !
attract new
customers.
29. Starting with the
right questions
will steer you
towards the
right answers—
by design.
BrainstorminG tip #2 !
30. better ideas faster
Brainstorm
using ideation
questions and
timeboxing
1 2 3 4
iDeation
33. David sherwin / challenge: technoyoga / time limit: 120 min / this page: first 3 timeboxes
34. how timeboxing works
20 mins 40 mins
Determine
app
content
Brain-
storm evaluate
BiG iDeas
35. David sherwin / challenge: technoyoga / time limit: 120 min / this page: first 3 timeboxes
36. how timeboxing works
20 mins 40 mins 60 mins 80 mins 100 mins 120 mins
final
clean
sketcHes
refineD visual
wire- DesiGn evaluate
frames tHinkinG
Determine rouGH
app wire- evaluate
content frames
Brain-
storm evaluate
BiG iDeas
66. By setting
impossible goals,
you’re more likely
to create ideas
that are truly
unexpected.
BrainstorminG tip #4 !
67. 30 days
in 30 minutes
a method for learning to timebox as a team
three timeboxes: 8 minutes ideation / 2 minutes critique
one person is “the client,” everyone else designs
68. Donnie Dinch, meg Doyle, claire kohler, mark notermann / challenge: storybook ending / time limit: 30 min
69. Donnie Dinch, meg Doyle, claire kohler, mark notermann / challenge: storybook ending / time limit: 30 min
72. scamper
Substitute something
Combine it with something else
Adapt something to it
Modify or magnify it
Put it to some other use
Eliminate something
Reverse or rearrange it
—alex osborn & Bob eberle
73. Don’t fall in love
with your first
ideas. act like
you’re speed
dating until you
run out of time.
BrainstorminG tip #5 !
75. Capture big ideas
with simple tools first.
as the fidelity of an idea
increases, you’re not brainstorming.
you’re executing a design.
almost a year of post-it notes
from Dawn lozzi’s desk at
frog design—can you guess
how many are here?
76. Keep a toolkit for your
daily sketching needs.
all you need is a pencil and
an eraser, but a sharpie or two
doesn’t hurt…
this toolkit is from leah Buley at adaptive path.
the blue pencil can be used for reference sketching,
then photocopied without showing up. the red and
warm gray markers are good for highlights.
77. Express your ideas in ways
that travel beyond the page.
sing, dance, paint, act—use motion
to create new perspectives on plain
old words and pictures.
Designer scott scheff and i created a 30-second commercial for a fictional
record store in nyc—with a flip HD camera and a glue-huffing puppet oD’ing
while listening to the pixies’ “wave of mutilation.” Deadline: 30 minutes.
78. Write it, then draw it. (Or vice versa.)
Get it all down. pictures hold more information—and
possible interpretations—than anything ever said out loud.
graphic facilitation by emily chang / 2591901494 share + remix cc on flickr
79. Sketch like a designer,
not like an artist.
you can sketch a comp
in a matter of a minute
or two that adequately
expresses any design idea.
(not the execution!)
Designer Jake rae created this sketch in a
few minutes for a in-class challenge. is any
other information necessary to convey what
the execution would require?