4 ways to start a brainstorm session:
As creative people 'pur sang', we at We, Creatives know better than anyone that the best creative ideas arise from volume and combination.Our best recipe is a brainstorming session in small groups, in which as many ideas as possible are first individually generated by everyone, which are then put together and combined.
To achieve good results within that format, everyone in the team must of course get their creative juices flowing. Not always as easy said as done, as it turns out… even with us!
We have a few tricks for that, with which we like to start a creative session ourselves. We have given them a name and written them down especially for you:
100 ways to:
'100 ways to' is the ideal opener for your brainstorming session. The idea behind it is to first stimulate your creative brain with an imaginary challenge, and only then to consider the real challenge of the meeting. We ourselves regularly use it during the first 5 minutes of a creative meeting.
Specifically, you give everyone a sheet of paper and a pen, and make up a scenario that starts with “100 ways to…” (for example: “100 ways to make money with one cow”, or “100 ways to drink from a glass ”,…). Everyone then gets 5 minutes to write down as many ideas as possible, after which all ideas are bundled into 1 long list.
Grid:
A possible variation on '100 ways to' is one of Bas's favourites:
- Create a grid of 10 or 12 squares.
- At the top left, draw an apple, or some other generic object that has nothing to do with the brainstorm itself.
- Then draw at least 9 other ways in 10 minutes how you can represent an apple. Anything goes: An apple in slices, a jar of applesauce, an orange, a macbook with an apple logo, etc…
- Then it is time for a discussion. See what similarities your drawings have, and discuss where they come from. Ideas are often similar or recognizable, and the reason for this can be found (shared experiences, inspiration from well-known brands, ...)
With this exercise you not only get your own creativity to work, but you also immediately discover how much variety there is in your group, and which lines of thinking you naturally have in common. After all, in a brainstorming session it is especially important to first generate different lines of thought, and only then bring them together. If your brainstorming group comes up with many of the same ideas, consider inviting more diversity to the table.
Always&Never
Do you have a sit-down or brainstorm in a team about a specific process? Then “always” and “never” is a nice format to trigger concrete ideas. For example: you have a meeting about the onboarding process of new employees and you get stuck coming up with functions, workflows and concepts.
Taking a few minutes to think about how the onboarding process “should always be” and then how it “shouldn't be” can create a clear visual word and concept map that more easily fuels features, workflows, and concepts.
From A to Z:
Our last creative warm-up is a little shorter, and we call it 'from A to Z'. We start by writing each letter of the alphabet one after the other on a sheet of paper. Once everyone is ready, the moderator of the meeting chooses a category (eg 'fruit' or 'countries'), and everyone writes down one item from the category as quickly as possible (in chronological order!) per letter of the alphabet.
After 3 minutes the moderator calls stop, and we show who has reached which letter.
Would you like to brainstorm with someone from our team? we get it. Mail us info@wecreatives.be
