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SIX WAYS TO MAKE CREATIVE IDEATION EASY

HOW TO MAKE S#!T UP FOR A LIVING (AND GET AWAY WITH IT)

Creative ideation is more than a catch-all term mashed up with a made up word. Creative ideation is learning how to fire bolts of mind lightning to an unsuspecting public. It’s the best part of one of the world’s wackiest, but most fun, careers. Our creative ideation process can be done in 6 simple steps.

STEP 1

GO MINING

ARM YOURSELF WITH RESEARCH

GO WEIRD PLACES. LOOK FOR WHATEVER GIVES YOU PAUSE.
SOCIAL MEDIA & REVIEWS

Pick your favorite poison, and go where opinions are. Reddit and TikTok rock for learning about the cultish love or hatred of a brand, product, or culture. Don’t forget to read the comments. 

 

EYE FEASTS & AI

Go to visual exploration hubs like Behance, Pinterest, Designinspiration, and Stocksy. If you can’t find what’s inspiring, you can make it. Take advantage of AI like Midjourney. 

 

THE REAL WORLD 

Go to the grocery store. The coffee shop. The hardware store. Look around. See who’s there. Act like you’re the consumer. Take notes. Take pictures. 

 

FRIENDS & STRANGERS

Talk to people you know. Or people you don’t. What do they think about this brand? What have they always wanted from them? 

Now you have something to say.

STEP 2

GATHER A GANG OF MISFITS

BRING IN MORE THAN JUST CREATIVES.

  • They see things you miss.

  • They disrupt thinking.

  • They will be invested later.

Our job is to aggregate the full spectrum of human experiences and distill them into impactful ideas. Maybe your Project Manager isn’t the best writer. Maybe your Digital Specialist can’t mock up anything to save her life. Doesn’t matter. Good ideas can come from anywhere.

But above all: Start with something stupid.

 

Someone has to throw out the first idea. In brainstorms our strategists and creative directors have a tendency to start with a weird, out there, plausibly terrible idea to loosen up the room. Because: If you’re not having fun in the room, why would people have fun with your work in the world?

STEP 3

CLEAR YOUR MENTAL COOKIES

YOU'RE NOT A SQUIRREL. NO NEED TO HOARD IDEAS.

 

DON'T BE AFRAID.

Getting out your bad ideas – especially the obvious ones – clears your mind for better ideas. 

 

BUT DON’T BE A HERO EITHER.

Trying to set up your denouement at the very end doesn’t help anyone. Sharing good ideas sooner rather than later means more time to build them out with the people who can make them better.

Listen. Take your newly empty brain and "yes... and..."

STEP 4

INDULGE LUNACY

FOLLOW EVERY WHITE RABBIT.

LIVE LIKE A MADMAN. KEEP THE JUDGE AWAY.

 

Crazy is interesting. Think of puppy monkey baby. Or I’m on a horse. Or in SixSpeed’s, flipping a snowmobile downtown for the super bowl. Lunacy takes you to places sanity can’t reach.

 

MADMAN

Brainstorming space. Stay as long as time permits.

ARCHITECT

Planning space. For picking out the best ideas.

CARPENTER

Making space. Bring it to life so it can stand up.

JUDGE

Refinement space. To wait until the very end.

STEP 5

KILL YOUR DARLINGS

2 RABBIT HOLES > 100 GOPHER HOLES.

SPEND YOUR TIME WHERE THE ENERGY IS.

It sucks when your favorite idea isn’t sticky. It sucks even more to miss the opportunity to build a better idea. So stay with good ideas. Throw out the bad ideas. Make sure you don’t leave the room with a ton of non starters.

DON'T LEAVE EMPTY HANDED.

LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE.

EVERYONE GETS ONE GOOD IDEA.

And if we don't get anywhere???

STEP 6

GIVE UP (BUT COME BACK)

YOU CAN’T SAVE THE WORLD IN 
AN HOUR. NOR SHOULD YOU.

SIX WAYS TO MAKE CREATIVE IDEATION EASY.

IF IT'S NOT THE BEST PART OF YOUR DAY, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

 

  • GO MINING

  • GATHER A GANG OF MISFITS

  • CLEAR YOUR MENTAL COOKIES

  • INDULGE LUNACY

  • KILL YOUR DARLINGS

  • GIVE UP (BUT COME BACK)

See our creative process in action.