Lost Swordfish Blog

How would you solve the problem in the future or past? What about a different cultural context? Try 5 ideas in 5 minutes to generate different perspectives then pick two or three to ideate from

Read on

By flipping the perspective you can open up new insights. What’s the opposite of the problem or solution? What would be the worst idea? Who isn’t the target audience?

Read on

Write your objective in a bubble in the middle of the page and branch out nested and associated ideas to discover new perspectives as stimuli. Try putting your mind map on the wall while brainstorming

Read on

Use random stimuli like reading out words from the dictionary to provoke a response, or try using the last letter of one word as the starting letter for another word. Free-associate words and concepts to spark connections.

Read on

Deep – Research & Define Deep dive and define the objective Wide – Creative & Divergent Think openly, play, and minimize criticism Narrow – Critical & Convergent Use objective evaluation criteria and critique Up – Synthesize & Iterate Keep playing to find a deeper synthesis

Read on

Immerse yourself in research and visual references, then let your subconscious go to work. Sleep on it and give your mind time to synthesize. Try this before you start and/or between sessions.

Read on

Give yourself or your team a deadline to compile 101 ideas in a list. By having so many ideas you give yourself permission to have more bad ideas, which in turn opens you up to more good ideas

Read on

The reason we have great ideas in the shower is that we’re not doing anything else. Use your time in the shower, on the train, during your run, or meditating in a sensory deprivation chamber to consider the brief.

Read on

Instead of writing ideas, simply start sketching relevant concepts. By activating your visual cortex you’ll open up new ways to think about things. Don’t try to solve the problem right away, just start moving the pencil

Read on

Force your internal critic to shut up by generating as many ideas as possible. Quantity over quality will help your mind to expand rather than contract. Set a stopwatch for 10 minutes to write down 10 ideas. Importantly, they don’t have to be good ideas.

Read on