A methodology for creating new ideas

This is a post is intended to give people a methodology for creating new ideas.
I have won awards for illustrations using this method ie “How To Manage Brilliant People” -2009 National Azbee Awards Gold and Bronze

A lot of the time when I create an editorial illustration an idea just pops into my head … but sometimes this does not happen, so I have this little methodology for creating new ideas that has helped me time and time again.

The idea behind this methodology is similar to writing a song. There are only a few musical notes, but by rearranging their order, length and speed you can create an infinite amount of songs.

Step 1 – Important Words

Try and think of the most important words related to your project … usually 2 to 4 words.

So for this project the creative brief was rather easy because it basically spelled it out:

“Empowering Teachers with Technology”

… but from experience it’s usually not too hard to think of 2 or 3 words.

So we now have our words: Empower, Teacher, Technology

Step 2 – Word Association

Next, for each of these 3 words .. think of other things associated with them  … if you need help with this you can consult a  Thesaurus or see what images are associated by searching Google Images or Flickr. These are the “notes” you will rearrange into “songs” … or ideas.

Step 3 – “make a song”

Now that you have your “notes” think of ways you can rearrange  them to convey  meaning. Pick a word from each column and see if you can create an interesting idea.  There are a number of ways to do this … change their size, their physical relationship to one another, their properties/material (metal=strong, ice=cold), etc.

Let’s see … what can we do? Maybe …

• A crane driven by a teacher lowering a light-bulb into a student’s head.
• A student climbing a DNA ladder to draw a light-bulb on a chalkboard
• Students and a teacher crossing a bridge of computers to the moon
• etc

“A Bridge to places out of this world”
Students and a teacher crossing a bridge of computers to the moon

“Ride The Brain Train”
The teacher’s brain is a vehicle that takes students to new places via technology/computer

“Knowledge Explosion”
leveraging the window/portal metaphor

“Super Teacher”
Teacher in a heroric position (foot on computer) a cape inspiring students

Here is the idea the client decided to go with …

I would love to hear if you have any methods for creating ideas???  Please post in comments below :)

Related Links:

• Here are some other tools for creating ideas.
• Lecture by Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning