Ideation Techniques in Use
Throughout the entire process of design thinking, we spend so much time building up the project, understanding our audience, firmly deciding on the problem we aim to address, and more.
At the ideation phase, we aim to bring those aspects together, and finally get to make some ideas.
Rikke Friis Dam describes the ideation process further, saying “Ideation is the mode of the design process in which you concentrate on idea generation. Mentally it represents a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and outcomes. Ideation provides both the fuel and also the source material for building prototypes and getting innovative solutions into the hands of your users.”
What makes ideation really fun, is that there is no right way to ideate. It’s all up to what you want to do, though there are some techniques that can work depending on your scenario, such as:
Brainstorm
Braindump
Brainwrite
Brainwalk
Worst Possible Idea
Challenge Assumptions
Mindmap
Sketch or Sketchstorm
Storyboard
Bodystorm
Analogies
Provocation
SCAMPER
Movement
Gamestorming
Cheatstorm
Crowdstorm
Co-Creation Workshops
Prototype
Even that is just a taste of what ideation holds. It all depends on what the project entails, and the kinds of ideation that you think will work best for your situation.
Let’s take a look at ideation in action, and how it can be applied to your next project!
Ideation in Action
For this example, I am using the POV statements that I made in my last blog post. To see the process for those, check out my previous post here!
First I am just going to take a look at my POV statements, then look through the list of ideation techniques and see what I think will work best in this situation.
For more individual projects, I recommend using Braindumping, sketching, or SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Rearrange). For more group-oriented projects I recommend using a Brainstorm, Bodystorm, or creating a workshop, such as a co-creation or co-design workshop.
Of course, these are just guides, and ideas don’t always come from these methods, so do what feels right for you!
Let’s walk through one of these apps together.
For these first two POV statements, I found that SCAMPER and Braindumping worked best for generating ideas, especially when some of these criticisms come from functionality Netflix purposely added.
The first POV statement for Netflix reads “Users who share a single account need to be able to use their subscription wherever they want because they become angry when something they use to do is no longer possible and end up moving to another platform.“
I found that braindumping was especially good for addressing this sentiment.
I thought that instead of creating a widespread ban on the use of Netflix anywhere but your home, just add it into the already established tier system. So, if you pay for a premium or an ad-free plan, you can get travel and multiple households included in your plan.
Again, these are just ideas as well! Not all are going to be amazing or the solution to the problem, they are meant to be a starting point to jump off from.
Let’s take a look at the other POV statement for Netflix.
For the second POV statement, I found that “Users who have children need to be able to hide adult content because they are likely to not trust their children to use the service, leading them to move to another platform.”
This is a common sentiment for any platforms kids interact with. Netflix happens to be one that doesn’t do it very well.
For one there is only one kid’s profile that can be made, and they don’t allow parents to add locks to adult accounts so children can accidentally go into a full profile with access to R-rated content.
For this statement, I also felt like braindumping got me to where I was looking for, saying how Netflix should implement a PIN system so parents can easily hide content they don’t want their kids watching.
This not only is a plus for parents, it is a plus for Netflix too, as more parents would be willing to have and let their kids use their subscription if a proper kids system was put in place.
For the most part, that is ideation! While I didn’t dive into every app and every idea here, it’s good to always make a few (if not many) ideas in this stage, as even if one seems to check all your boxes, it may still not be the final solution in the end.
To read more about YouTube and Disney+ and ways that they can improve their apps, click here or scroll down below!
Dam, R. and Teo, Y. (2020). Introduction to the Essential Ideation Techniques which are the Heart of Design Thinking. Retrieved October 8, 2023, from Interaction Design Foundation: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/introduction-to-the-essential-ideation-techniques-which-are-the-heart-of-design-thinking