Brainstorming

Challenge & Selection

Brainstorming is a very powerful method for generating ideas that can solve a problem at the  early stage of a design process. Its purpose is to invoke uninhibited thoughts and it can be  practiced by an individual or a group of people. Group should meet in a comfortable  environment equipped with stationery and feel free to throw any idea or thought, even those  that might seem ridiculous. It is very important that group is diverse and consist of people from  a wide range of backgrounds. Although this method focuses on quantity rather than quality,  creativity of ideas is highly desirable. Most important advantages of this technique are that  many ideas can be generated in a short time period, great deal of them can be put aside for  later projects, and it doesn’t require lots of resources.

When my team faced the challenge to create a new, motivating mobile application that will  inspire users to set and accomplish their goals in life, this method proved to be an excellent  method to set the foundations. Team itself was consist of members from different parts of the  world and that also played pivotal role in the design process. All of my peers were familiar with  applications that were trying to solve the same problem statement: People tend to set goals to  improve their lives but very few manage to accomplish them. Since there were several similar  applications on the market already, the biggest challenge was to determine what can we do to  make our app better than the others. We found the answer to that question during the  brainstorming session, along with the ideas for several more features that will motivate users  and make our product stand out from the others.

Application

During the brainstorming session team generated lots of creative ideas. Then we organized  them into groups and subgroups in order to analyze all generated data. Having ideas organized  like that, it was much easier to evaluate them, compare them with the current state of the art,  predict their cost and feasibility, and finally, decide on which ones were the best. We came up  with the key solution to our problem statement. What we needed to make our app successful  was the instrument of encouragement. We also figured out how to motivate our users  gradually, which was very important because it usually takes time to accomplish a goal.

Insight & Approach

Brainstorming is a technique that never failed me in my experience so far. In this particular case  it had provided me and my team with lots of creative ideas which helped us form a set of  features for a new mobile application that can stand fresh and original against what was  currently on the market. Brainstorming method fosters collaboration, creativity, and  productivity. To ensure a successful outcome it is good to have an experienced  moderator to facilitate the session. Experienced moderator will know how to encourage  participants to come up with more ideas and how to build up on them. He will also keep in  mind that it is very important to have a well defined problem statement, and make sure that  focus stays on users that the group is trying to solve the problem for. That is something that we,  as we were unexperienced designers at that time, didn’t know. Although we had defined the  problem statement and kept focus on it, we could have completed a successful brainstorming  session in much less time if we had had an experienced facilitator to lead our group.


Brainstorming Challenge & Selection Brainstorming is a very powerful method for generating ideas that can solve a problem at the early stage of a design process . Its purpose is to invoke uninhibited thoughts and it can be practiced by an individual or a group of people . Group should meet in a comfortable environment equipped with stationery and feel free to throw any idea or thought , even those that might seem ridiculous . It is very important that group is diverse and consist of people from a wide range of backgrounds . Although this method focuses on quantity rather than quality , creativity of ideas is highly desirable . Most important advantages of this technique are that many ideas can be generated in a short time period , great deal of them can be put aside for later projects , and it does n’t require lots of resources . When my team faced the challenge to create a new , motivating mobile application that will inspire users to set and accomplish their goals in life , this method proved to be an excellent method to set the foundations . Team itself was consist of members from different parts of the world and that also played pivotal role in the design process . All of my peers were familiar with applications that were trying to solve the same problem statement : People tend to set goals to improve their lives but very few manage to accomplish them . Since there were several similar applications on the market already , the biggest challenge was to determine what can we do to make our app better than the others . We found the answer to that question during the brainstorming session , along with the ideas for several more features that will motivate users and make our product stand out from the others . Application During the brainstorming session team generated lots of creative ideas . Then we organized them into groups and subgroups in order to analyze all generated data . Having ideas organized like that , it was much easier to evaluate them , compare them with the current state of the art , predict their cost and feasibility , and finally , decide on which ones were the best . We came up with the key solution to our problem statement . What we needed to make our app successful was the instrument of encouragement . We also figured out how to motivate our users gradually , which was very important because it usually takes time to accomplish a goal . Insight & Approach Brainstorming is a technique that never failed me in my experience so far . In this particular case it had provided me and my team with lots of creative ideas which helped us form a set of features for a new mobile application that can stand fresh and original against what was currently on the market . Brainstorming method fosters collaboration , creativity , and productivity . To ensure a successful outcome it is good to have an experienced moderator to facilitate the session . Experienced moderator will know how to encourage participants to come up with more ideas and how to build up on them . He will also keep in mind that it is very important to have a well defined problem statement , and make sure that focus stays on users that the group is trying to solve the problem for . That is something that we , as we were unexperienced designers at that time , did n’t know . Although we had defined the problem statement and kept focus on it , we could have completed a successful brainstorming session in much less time if we had had an experienced facilitator to lead our group .