Have you ever struggled to come up with ways to improve something? If you have, you should consider using ideation methods. Before I can get into different ideation methods, I must first talk about what Ideation is.
What exactly is Ideation?
According to Rilke Fries Dam and Teo You Sang from Interaction Design, Ideation is the process of generating ideas and solutions through sessions such as Sketching, Prototyping, Brainstorming, Brainwriting, Worst Possible Idea, and a wealth of other ideation techniques. In the field of user experience, it is crucial to understand the different problem-solving methods. Different methods fit the different needs associated with your product.
Ideation is the third stage in the Design Thinking process after the Empathize and Define stages. Ideation is suitable for a multitude of reasons. One reason is that it allows you to produce many potential solutions to a problem. Another reason is that it gives you a new view of your company and its direction. A third reason Ideation is beneficial is that it allows you to interact with others and discuss your thoughts regarding improving a product or company in a safe and judgment-free zone. If you were to search online for different ideation methods, you would be met with countless options. To simplify things, I will talk about three specific methods: Brainstorming, Analogies, and Game storming.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is exactly what it seems. According to Merriam-Webster, brainstorming is a group problem-solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from all members of the group. Brainstorming encourages creative thought, which is necessary to determine ways to improve your product or company. Being able to think more freely and share ideas without fear of being judged often provides better results. The reason for this is due to thinking a thought or idea you had may be outlandish, but everyone else loves your ideas, and the company goes ahead and utilizes that idea to improve. To be effective, you cannot brainstorm freely. Brainstorming is valuable only if it is focused on a goal. You would limit the opportunity to improve without sharing some of these ideas.
Analogies
Analogies play an essential role in the ideation process. Analogies tend to be direct when making a comparison. According to Rilke Friis Dam and Teo You Sang, an analogy is a comparison between two things for instance a comparison of a heart and a pump. Analogies are part of the human experience as we frequently need them to understand a complex situation. As children, analogies were a significant part of helping us understand some realities because we could not understand them. However, in the design world, analogies are different. Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Sang also say analogies are an excellent way for us to build empathy with users, synthesize and define information, and generate new ideas around a problem. Because analogies are a great way to build empathy, it gives us as designers even more of a reason to capture the attention and imagination of our users. In order for an analogy to be effective, you must identify the aspects of a particular situation that are the most important.
Gamestorming
Gamestorming is a set of ideations and problem-solving methods that are gamified to increase engagement, energy, and collaboration levels. Since Gamestorming consists of using games to brainstorm, rules are enforced just like playing games enforces rules. Gamestorming helps because it helps avoid conflict by shifting group and thought dynamics. An example of Gamestorming would be a Fishbowl. According to Friis Dam and Yu Sang, Fishbowl is an ideation session in which participants sit in two circles, one smaller and one larger, surrounding the smaller one. Fishbowl ideation is beneficial as it allows people to view things from both sides. The people in the inner circle discuss ideas they may have while the people in the outer circle observe and listen to the conversation without giving any input. Doing this makes some people have to listen, and others brainstorm.
What have I done?
For this week’s assignment, we were tasked with choosing ideation techniques that we thought would work well in addressing each of the 6 POV statements from the prior week’s module. The three ideation methods that I chose were the three above that I mentioned: Brainstorming, Analogies, and Gamestorming. These three ideation methods best suited my 6 POV statements relating to sports betting. Along with utilizing three ideation methods, I devised a few statements for each POV to express users’ potential concerns. For FanDuel, I utilized the Brainstorming method and the Analogies method. For DraftKings, I utilized the Brainstorming method and the Gamestorming method. For BetMGM, I utilized the Analogies method and the Gamestorming method. Utilizing these three ideation methods allowed me to analyze what people would be looking for concerning the POV statements.
Looking Ahead
Before looking at ideation methods in detail, I never thought they played such an important role. After analyzing the different types of ideation methods, I now understand what they are and why they play such an essential role in improving either a product or a business. Looking at the problem from a different perspective gives you a new understanding of how to approach a problem and what will lead to the best solution. After gaining a new understanding of ideation methods, I will no longer underestimate their importance.
Please see below my PDF with ideation methods.