Brainstorming Strategies for New Product Design Ideas
The following are innovative brainstorming approaches that Product council utilizes to help foster creativity, enhance participation, and streamline the development process.
1. Hybrid Brainstorming: Combining Individual and Group Ideas
How it works: Have team members first brainstorm ideas individually using tools like digital sticky notes [Miro, Jamboard] before coming together to discuss. This helps prevent groupthink and allows more unique ideas to emerge.
Why it works: Individuals often generate more creative ideas alone, while group sessions refine and build upon them.
2. Cross-disciplinary Brainstorming
How it works: Involve people from different fields (e.g., engineers, marketers, industrial designers, customers) to bring diverse perspectives into product ideation.
Why it works: Different professional experiences spark unique ideas and solutions that wouldn’t occur in a homogenous group.
3. Role-playing or "Design Personas"
How it works: Each participant takes on the role of a specific user persona. As they brainstorm, they advocate for their persona’s needs, frustrations, and desires regarding the product.
Why it works: Forces team members to think beyond their own assumptions and consider how a product will be used by different types of people.
4. Thematic Zones (Physical or Virtual)
How it works: Create different “zones” in the brainstorming room or online space, each focusing on a specific theme (e.g., sustainability, user experience, future technologies). Teams rotate through each zone, generating ideas related to the theme.
Why it works: Keeps the session dynamic and helps tackle design challenges from multiple angles.
5. Time-boxed Challenge Sprints
How it works: Use short, timed sprints (10-20 minutes) where teams must develop as many product ideas as possible within the constraints of a specific challenge (e.g., reducing material costs by 30%).
Why it works: Urgency forces focus, and constraints drive creative problem-solving.
6. Gamification with Idea Battles
How it works: After brainstorming, teams compete by pitching their top ideas against each other in a fun, gamified format. The session could use voting apps or online polls where ideas win rounds like in a tournament.
Why it works: Injects energy and encourages everyone to champion their ideas passionately while encouraging constructive critique.
7. Incorporate AI-Assisted Ideation
How it works: Use AI tools that generate idea prompts, suggest product features, or visualize early-stage concepts based on input criteria. This could serve as a creative kick-starter or help refine concepts.
Why it works: AI can bring fresh perspectives and possibilities that human participants may overlook.
8. Storyboarding Product Journeys
How it works: Instead of focusing on features and specs, ask participants to storyboard how the product will fit into a user’s daily life or solve a real-world problem. Visual sketches or digital storyboards (like in Figma or Mural) can bring ideas to life.
Why it works: Encourages thinking in terms of experience and functionality, not just technicalities.
9. Reverse Brainstorming
How it works: Instead of asking how to create a successful product, ask participants to brainstorm how to design a product that fails spectacularly. Then, reverse-engineer those failures to avoid pitfalls and reveal critical design insights.
Why it works: It’s often easier to identify and laugh at potential problems, which can lead to serious breakthroughs in preventing them.
10. Rotating Facilitator Method
How it works: Each brainstorming session has a different person to facilitate or guide the discussion. The facilitator keeps the energy high, prompts new ideas, and ensures everyone contributes.
Why it works: Having different facilitators each time keeps the process fresh and brings out different voices or approaches.
11. Virtual Collaboration Tools with Real-Time Feedback
How it works: Use platforms like Miro or Stormboard where all participants can sketch, add notes, and vote on ideas in real-time, no matter where they are. Integrate live feedback and quick polling features to refine ideas on the spot.
Why it works: Keeps remote and in-person teams equally engaged and allows for a more interactive, inclusive process.
12. Inspirational Field Trips (Physical or Virtual)
How it works: Get outside the usual office setting, physically or virtually. Visit a museum, factory, sent from my iPhone, etc.
Why it works: Exposure to new environments often stimulates fresh ideas and creative thinking.
13. Mind-mapping Sessions
How it Works: Create mind maps as a team, starting from a central theme or problem and branching out to explore related ideas, solutions, and sub-topics. This helps visualize connections between concepts.
Why it Works: Encourages expansive thinking and helps capture a wide range of potential approaches in a structured, visual way.
14. Prototype Play
How it works: Create rapid low fidelity prototypes using simple materials [e.g., paper, cardboard, 3D software] to visualize early ideas during the brainstorming process.
Why it Works: Having something tangible to interact with early on helps refine ideas, highlight problems and spark new thoughts.
15. Incorporate User Feedback Early
During brainstorming, bring in real user feedback or invite target users into the session to provide real-time insights or responses to ideas.
Why it Works: Keeps brainstorming grounded in actual user needs and helps guide the session toward viable, user-friendly product solutions.
Conclusion:
By incorporating innovative methods into your brainstorming sessions, you will foster a more engaging, diverse, and productive creative process. The key is to keep the process flexible and adaptive.
The following page was authored by Robert Sheldon with AI assistance.