Brainstorming
The process of thinking through and building up ideas either individually or as a group, that can be used in the design process, during the ideation phase.
“Osborn’s rules for effective brainstorming encourage people to withhold judgment, build on the ideas of others, generate a large quantity of ideas, free-wheel, and identify a leader. The rules are intended to govern participant behavior and enhance the productivity of the brainstorm...Designers use improvisation to foster a group dynamic necessary for effective brainstorming. Designers adopt improvisation inspired activities to practice the rules of brainstorming designed to create a supportive group dynamic.”
Nature & context
Ideation, Design technique
Resources:
Groups of at least 2/3, moderator to initiate the brainstorming process.
Metaphor ball:
A brainstorming technique. Group activity consisting of at least 2/3/4 people, without a physical ball but acting as if they are holding one, the moderator starts off with a topic. The person holding the (imaginary) ball has the floor, to start the discussion, and each person the ball is passed on to will improve on the previous person’s statement/idea. Participants can challenge or critique each other’s ideas. Similar to passing the beach ball technique, where the person holding the ball has the floor.
Yes, Let's:
A brainstorming technique. Group activity consisting of at least 2/3/4 people, with one person starting off with an idea/topic, followed by the next person agreeing to it and adding improvisations to it. Keep building on the idea, no matter how ridiculous or unrealistic it sounds. (Round robin), More of a speculative approach where each person hearing the previous person's idea agrees with and adds on to it ignoring the implementation constraints.
Speed dating:
A rapid concept iteration technique. Involves two people who discuss their concepts with each other, with the other person making a suggestions/ improvisation. Once the given time (of few minutes or so) passes, the one person from the pair switches to the next person and the cycle repeats, with improvisations done on the already improvised concept. Resembles speed dating where every table has a one person who is fixed, say the men. The other group (say the women) keep going around table after table, in round robin fashion initiating a conversation with the men for few minutes each.