Page History

Topic

Brainstorming:  How to Create More Ideas and Better Ideas

Program

On Thursday, April 28 the HCD Community of Practice explored brainstorming. A brainstorming session likely comes to mind when tasked with generating ideas to solve a problem or dream up an innovative solution. But does it work?

Quick answer: Yes. But if facilitated poorly or approached with a rigid perspective, it may lead to groupthink or an environment where good ideas go to die—the opposite of what you set out to accomplish.

Whether facilitating or participating in a brainstorming session, you will succeed by approaching the process with a creative mindset and embracing best practices. So, what does success look like? More and better ideas!

The session included:

• A definition of brainstorming
• How to protect and nurture ideas
• Virtual brainstorming warm-up exercises
• Brainstorming best practices

Our guest presenter was Senior Design Strategist Scott Reed with the HCD Center of Excellence and adjunct faculty at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Scott has an MBA in Strategic Design and completed post-graduate work at Austin Center for Design.

Resources

• Recording

• Deck

• SCAMPER: Learn How
• Game Storming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo
• Warm-up techniques
  • Thirty Circles
  • Warm-up activities

What's Next

• HCD Community of Practice on Thursday, May 26 at 1 PM ET: HCD as a Verb and Behavior, presented by Howard M. Montgomery
• Please tell us about your experience with the HCD Community of Practice by completing a brief survey.

• Registration is open for two courses: Survey Design and Human-Centered Design 101.