In a brainstorm, a team comes up with as many ideas as possible to address the needs of your audience. This is a time in the process to let your imagination run wild, generating as many ideas as possible. You’ll spend time refining later, so in a brainstorm, get outside the box, or better yet, tear the box up completely!
When to use!
At any point in your process when you need to come up with ideas
Details
- Materials – post-its, pen/pencil, timer
- Energy level – High
- Team members – 3-5
- Participants – n/a
- Expected output – ideas for action
Step-by-step guide
- Know the 3 rules for a brainstorm: (1) don’t judge yourself, (2) produce as many ideas as possible, and (3) entertain wild or implausible ideas
- Pick a topic to explore or problem that needs to be solved, perhaps something that came up in the understand or identify stages
- Set a timer, often 5-10 minutes at a time works best, but you can always add more time
- Each team member writes out as many ideas as possible, one idea per post-it; ideas can be small fragments, full concepts, or somewhere in between
Stuck? Try out these starting points:
- Mash-up: brainstorm ideas at the intersection of two completely different environments relevant to your audience (i.e. a park and an office building).
- Sketching: pick an idea that you’ve generated in a brainstorm and sketch 8 different versions