Define

Generate and prioritise ideas

The activity of generating ideas through creating "how might we" questions helps to reframe a challenge as an opportunity, encouraging ideas to flow more easily. This approach sparks diverse ideation by prompting exploration of various possibilities. Once ideas are generated, prioritisation ensures that the most impactful and feasible solutions are selected for further development. 

Activity worksheet

Generate and prioritise ideas

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Tips to complete activity

Frame as ‘How might we’ (HMW) questions

• Be specific and actionable
  ‍Try to write HMW questions that are clear, specific, and actionable. Avoid vague or broad statements and focus on defining a precise challenge that invites creative solutions. (See further reading for help)
• Frame challenges positively
  ‍Formulate HMW questions with a positive tone to encourage a more constructive and solution-oriented approach during brainstorming sessions.
• Keep it user centric
  ‍Ensure that HMW questions are rooted in understanding and addressing user needs. Frame challenges in a way that centres around enhancing the user experience or solving a specific user problem.

Generating ideas

• Involve others
  It can really help to involve others - not only will you get more ideas, but also a diversity of ideas.
• Create a good environment
  To generate creative ideas it can help to move out of your everyday space. Try to organise any brainstorming at a time of day when people are at their freshest.
• Quantity not quality
  To avoid getting stuck it’s helpful to focus on generating lots of ideas. This is also about trying to get beyond the most obvious ideas to tap into innovative solutions. Crazy Eights in one such simple way to help a group of people do this. (See further reading)
• Use creative prompts
  Using prompts can stimulate creative thinking and encourage participants to explore ideas from different angles.
  Try using any of the following (there’s many more!):
  - Reverse Thinking
  ‍Consider the opposite of your intended solution or goal. How might you achieve the opposite effect, and what could be the benefits?
  - The Crazy Idea
  Encourage wild thinking by asking, "What's the craziest idea you can come up with?" Often seemingly ‘silly’ ideas end up giving us insight and sparking others.
  - Extreme User Personas
  Create extreme user personas, such as a child or a senior citizen, and brainstorm ideas tailored specifically for their needs. This can help design services that are better for everyone.
  - What If...
  Pose "What if" scenarios to spark imagination. For example, "What if money were no object?" or "What if the laws of physics didn't apply?"
  - Random Word Association
  Generate random words and associate them with your problem or challenge. How might these unrelated words inspire new ideas or perspectives.

Prioritising ideas

• Involve others
  Where possible, involve others in this decision making process.
• Question assumptions
  Once you have added all ideas to a prioritisation matrix, check understanding with others about why ideas have been placed in different quadrants. The ‘why’ will uncover any assumptions, and also help create consensus.

Further reading

• 🔗Creating good HMW questions
  IDEO Design Kit step by step guidance and short video
• 🔗How to brainstorm with others
  IDEO Design Kit seven rules to help unlock creativity
• 🔗Running a Crazy Eights workshop
  Simple instructions on a method to generate lots of ideas
• 🔗Using prioritisation matrices
  Nielsen Norman Group further help with using matrices

Find inspiration and sketch solutions

In the design process, finding inspiration from established designs, whether they are within the same sector or from diverse sources, provides a valuable foundation for ideation. Sketching serves as a dynamic means of translating abstract ideas into tangible representations, enabling designers to visually explore multiple concepts rapidly. This process not only fosters a free-flowing exchange of ideas but also encourages experimentation and iteration.

Activity worksheet

Find inspiration and sketch solutions

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Tips to complete activity

Find inspiration

• Before you start any research outline your objectives - what questions would you like to find answers on? E.g. How does a particular product work, or how have they financed a product? Or who uses the product?
• If doing research online, taking a screenshot of sites can capture a visual picture. Use the worksheet or an online whiteboard such as Miro which can help to arrange and gather your sources of inspiration. Or you might create a research wall in a physical space.
• Sort your research to start to make sense of it - you might annotate things you like, or cluster examples that are similar. It can also be useful to capture any examples that show what you’d like to avoid.

Sketch solutions

• Start somewhere
  The most important thing is starting. It might feel a bit awkward at first, that’s okay - you will ease into it as time goes on. Start small, and go from there.
• Combine your idea(s) with the inspiration you found
  Feel free to mix and match bits of your ideas with the inspiration you’ve found. As the quote goes: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.”
• Prototype your idea
  When sketching, have a think about what the user would click, and what would be displayed after. Maybe you could sketch an idea showing that.
• Just enough to test your idea
  You don’t need to aim for masses of sketches, try to keep your goal focused around “what’s just enough that if I showed someone, they would understand?”
• You don’t need to be an artist
  Ugly is okay, but the words matter - try to stay succinct.
• Keep iterating on your idea
  Don’t stop after the first sketch, keep going! Have a think about what aspects of different sketches you could merge & what you could tweak.