Ideation Techniques
Working out your brain is key for creativity
In the design thinking process, Ideation is a key step. It’s the culmination of the emphasizing, defining, and researching we’ve done so far, turning those ideas into more concrete and actionable solutions. Similar to many aspects of design, ideation is not just thinking of ideas, but rather employing a variety of techniques and strategies into a flowing process
Finding a balance
The most difficult aspect of ideation is finding the balance between letting ideas flow and having a sense of focus. Obviously you want people’s ideas to flow, but as described here by Lauren Landry of Northeastern.edu, a sense of constraint is actually quite beneficial
Another best practice is to establish constraints. What are the client’s objectives? Are you working within a particular budget? How much time should you dedicate to brainstorming? While you don’t want to stifle employees’ creativity, you also want to stay focused. “Often, brainstorming is done by too many people over too long a period of time,” (Tucker) Marion says. “You can’t go into a room with no framework for what you’re working on. You need some type of challenge question to frame the discussion.” With constraints established, wild ideas can still flow—and should be encouraged. During the ideation phase, there are no “bad” ideas. The most outlandish concept could be the right solution, or at least inspire and influence other team members. The goal, according to Marion, is “to have the biggest pool of ideas and opportunities that you can.”
As said here, no idea is a bad idea per say, though many misconstrued that. In that right context, almost any idea provides value. The issue is when the idea doesn’t relate to the context of the problem whatsoever.
Let’s say for example you work for a sports team. Cutting ticket prices in a vacuum is a great idea, as it makes fans happy and puts more of them in the seats. If the idea is brought up during a conversation on how they can improve player facilities, the idea becomes far less useful as it has nothing to do with the original context
Applying the technique
To test out some ideation methods, I’ve taken the POV statements I did last week and choose two techniques I feel would apply to those statements. After applying the techniques, I ended up with 12 new ideas that accommodate for the complaints in the POV statement. To choose what ideation techniques to use, I referred to this article by Interaction-Design.org
Uber Eats
An overview of my Uber Eats ideations
For the first idea, I used a combination of the techniques “Worst Possible Idea” and “Creative Pause”, as I felt that made me think of a basic concept like customer service in a different way. After applying these techniques, I felt that a system that rewards good drivers would be the most beneficial. At its core, good customer service is about communication and efficiency. There’s also nothing that can be done to alleviate poor communication after the fact, so rewarding drivers who communicate well will incentivize better communication throughout the app.
In terms of the refunding a process, I simply sketched out a full process for what the refund system would be. My main goals for this idea was to make sure refunding is readily apparent, as well as that the process is short and smooth
Doordash
An overview of my Doordash Ideations
As gifting is an underutilized feature in both this app as well as the others, outside resources were most essential for this ideation process. Many love giving gifts, so by utilizing analogies, I could better determine what part of the gift giving process one prefers. I also felt viewing the gifts in a “gamestorming” way allowed me to think up ideas that will incentivize the user to keep giving gifts.
In terms of accommodating towards late night business’, this is another aspect not touched upon much in the app, allowing me to use provocation as a way to come up with totally new ideas for delivering to business’. I also used creative pause again, as I also felt a clearer understanding of why business’ workers need apps like these is important
Grubhub
An overview of my Grubhub Ideations
The prices of these apps are often the biggest negative for many, so this POV gave the perfect chance to use brain dump. There’s many different parts of the app that could use a price cut, as well as the chance for deals, making it easier to come up with a bunch of different ideas. Those chances for deals also make gamestorming effective as well, as the easiest way to save money with these apps is to keep using them to get discounts
This last one is similar to the first, but in the perspective of the customer. Knowing that, it felt much easier to dump a bunch of ideas on what a customer would like in terms of service. I also felt challenging assumptions here was good as well, as the better you understand what the customer actually needs, the easier it is to accommodate to those needs
