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.

1. better ideas faster
How to Brainstorm more effectively
David sherwin, frog design
How DesiGn conference / 06.08.10
t: @ cHanGeorDer / e: DksHerwin@msn.com / BloG: cHanGeorDerBloG.com

2. Brainstorms at inDeX by @boetter / 49915119 cc license share remix on flickr

3. better ideas faster
quantity breeds quality

4. from Understanding Comics by scott mccloud — read this!

5. better ideas faster
quantity plus quality
big ideas, low fidelity

6. nixie clock by randomskk / 3535050466 cc license share remix on flickr

7. better ideas faster
quantity plus quality
big ideas, low fidelity
designing your deadlines

8. just enough ideas
at tHe very last minute
some other Guy
some otHer conference
proBaBly runninG late

9. better ideas faster
identify your
client’s actual
problems
1 2 3 4
strateGy

10. what business
problem are
you trying
to solve?

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

19. how many
designers does
it take to screw
in a lightbulb?

20. sales have dropped
20% over this past year.
what should we do? not a DesiGn proBlem

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!

25. iDeation Questions
what
metaphors
provide the
appropriate
meaning for
the new
identity?
Articulating a design problem
will suggest related questions
that can be answered by design.

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

31. what is
timeboxing?
short, structured sprints to reach
stated ideation goals

32. how timeboxing works
20 mins
Brain-
storm
BiG iDeas

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

38. practice
makes
permanent

39. HiGHer why timeboxing works
flow
anXiety cHannel
diagram from flow: the psychology of optimal experience by mihaly csikszentmihalyi
CHALLENGES
Brain- evaluate Determine
storm app
BiG iDeas content
reaD
BoreDom
cHallenGe
low
low SKILLS HiGHer

40. HiGHer why timeboxing works
visual
DesiGn
flow
anXiety cHannel
diagram from flow: the psychology of optimal experience by mihaly csikszentmihalyi
rouGH evaluate refineD
wireframes wire-
frames
CHALLENGES
Brain- evaluate Determine
storm app
BiG iDeas content
reaD
BoreDom
cHallenGe
low
low SKILLS HiGHer

41. the more time
you provide
yourself during
a brainstorm, the
less likely you’ll
be able to focus.
BrainstorminG tip #3 !

42. timeboxing +
brainstorming
methods
using new and unusual brainstorming methods
in timeboxes prompts novel ideas

43. mind
mapping
visualizing connections between
seemingly disparate pieces of information

44. sean Baker, pictoric, and lenny vella, ’peeps creative / challenge: free association / time limit: 60 min

45. sean Baker, pictoric, and lenny vella, ’peeps creative / challenge: free association / time limit: 60 min

46. word
listing
an alternate type of mind map
with more structure and faster results

47. mark notermann / challenge: out of Gamut / time limit: 60 min

48. mark notermann / challenge: out of Gamut / time limit: 60 min

49. picture
association
collaging together found images
to spark new design ideas

50. Jarred elrod / challenge: never tear us apart / time limit: 60 min

51. brutethink
forcing connections between your area
of focus and a totally unrelated word

52. matt mcelvogue, frog design / sketched this last time i presented this talk

53. idea
inversion
taking an idea and envisioning
its exact opposite—this isn’t easy!

54. Jessica thrasher / challenge: opposites attract / time limit: 60 min

55. freeform
sketching
drawing pictures, words, and layout ideas
in an free-form, associative way

56. meta newhouse, newhouse Design / challenge: one line logo / time limit: 30 min

57. meta newhouse, newhouse Design / challenge: one line logo / time limit: 30 min

58. role
playing
act out how a product, service, or event
would influence consumer behavior

59. Donnie Dinch, meg Doyle, claire kohler, mark notermann / challenge: touch screen of Deaf rock / time limit: 60 min

60. deconstruction
tear apart the bits and pieces that make up an
existing design, then quickly reassemble them

61. David sherwin / challenge: i’m feeling really, really lucky / time limit: 60 min

62. future-
casting
remove all reality constraints, working backward
from what’s impossible to what’s possible

63. mark notermann / challenge: future-casting / time limit: 60 min

64. 10x10
sketching in one hour at least one hundred doodles,
which are then analyzed for novel ideas

65. David sherwin / challenge: 10x10 / time limit: 60 min

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

70. better ideas faster
Connect
existing ideas
to discover
better ones
1 2 3 4
syntHesis

71. idea
clustering
group and merge ideas, seeing which ones
enhance the others around them

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 !

74. better ideas faster
best practices

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?

80. parting
thoughts

81. intuition
deepens
with practice

82. intuition doesn’t
come from
rote repetition

83. intuition
fuels great
design

84. “plans are no substitute for the real
thing… Process is a means to an end.
our purpose is to create.”
—mark rolston, frog design

85. Questions?
David sherwin
dksherwin@msn.com
@changeorder
slides for this talk
will be posted to
changeorderblog.com
Creative Workshop
is out november 2010
from How Design press
Better ideas faster | ©2010 David sherwin
all rights reserved.