In this article I’ll describe another popular system known as Design Thinking, and I will begin describing methods of ideating that are at the core of both these systems, especially the methods I’ve found to be most beneficial in developing and marketing new products and services.
Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a misleading name because it gives an impression that the system is about aesthetics. Actually, the “Design” of Design Thinking is about organizing and ideating in the non linear manner used by designers to solve problems. It differs from the business thinking methods taught in marketing curriculums and practiced in most marketing departments.
Although Design Thinking is little known in Vietnam, in the early 2000s it became widely used by many leading organizations like Apple, Toyota, Philips, Nike and many others to develop new product and service ideas. Design Thinking differs from business thinking and most other ideation systems in many ways, but I think mostly in these characteristics:
Last year, concurrent with our firm updating the brand identity system we designed for Kangaroo almost a decade ago, I had the opportunity of coaching a small team of Kangaroo managers in the Design Thinking process. The goal was to develop new appliance products, and from that, a product design philosophy. Among other product ideas that grew from this two month process, we originated the first of a line of dong mem freezers that enable users to store fresh foods longer, yet without need of defrosting.
Ideation Methods
Now that we’ve seen how ideation fits within systems that help define problems, let’s begin exploring the ideation methods themselves. Coming up with ideas is often referred to as “thinking outside the box,” but actually, some of the most practical ideas occur just by getting to know what’s in the box better.
Mind Mapping begins with a single concept at the center and as related ideas spring from it, they are noted as words, images or symbols that radiate outwards from the center. Each idea is then followed by another round of thinking that surrounds it with even more variations. When the initial concept is stated as a problem, Mind Mapping is a good method to create and organize solutions.
Lotus Blossom Mapping is similar, but more structured, requiring eight ideas around the center problem, like the eight pedals of a lotus blossom, and then eight more ideas around each of the original eight. It is surprising how the discipline of completing a Lotus Blossom Map can yield 64 ideas, usually within an hour.
Morphological Analysis is an ideation method often used for new product designs. All the materials which a product could be composed of might be listed in the first column of a table. In the next column, another kind of aspect is listed, such as where a product could be used. Yet another aspect is added in the last column, such as various purposes for the product. New product ideas are stimulated by combining different combinations of the aspects in each column.
Semantic Intuition begins with using as column heads the verb, noun and adjective drawn from a problem statement. Variations of each of these three words are then listed in rows below. By forming new combinations of words selected from each of the three rows, new ways of thinking about the problem are created.
Divergence & Convergence
In ideation terminology, creating new ideas is called divergence. Even when we are searching “within the box,” we are expanding our possibilities. An equally important part of ideation is selecting the best ideas from those created. This segment in the process of developing a useful idea is called convergence.
There are several methods for ideation convergence. One of the most widely used is known as “Hits,” a reference to the hit parade of popular songs. Each member of an ideation group gets the same number of votes to cast, often 10% of the total number of ideas. The ideas with the most votes can then be refined for final selection.
In next article, we will explore methods that quickly generate a greater quantity of ideas and diverge “outside the box.” And we will learn other methods of converging to select and improve the ideas we create.
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Richard Moore is the Ideation & Managing Director of Richard Moore Associates, offering Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Integrated Brand Communications and fast-tracked Design Thinking services in Hanoi and HCMC.
