Scenario planning is not about predicting the future, it is about understanding possible and plausible futures and what their implications might be for a given context or sector and organisations working within it. Scenario planning can be used...
Nesta’s DIY Toolkit provides an excellent activity and template for better understanding and defining those who you intend to reach with potential solutions. According to the DIY toolkit, “Target Group is probably best used when you are...
Focus group discussions (FGDs) can be an excellent way to generate information and insights, as well as see where there is agreement in a group and where there are disagreements on the topic you want to discuss. It can be a quicker way of gaining...
Yes, And is a simple and powerful tool for building on initial ideas generated in the previous activities. It aims to encourage participants to assess their ideas, providing feedback in order to build on them rather than finding fault. When...
The SCAMPER methodology is a very powerful, systematic approach to thinking through ideas. Using either an analogous solution or an idea you have developed so far as your starting point, work through the following seven questions:Substitute:...
Analogous Inspiration is a way of seeking inspiration from examples of solutions to problems that have been solved elsewhere, but that have some similar characteristics to your own problem. There are five steps to this process.Gather examples...
Mission Impossible is a game that asks participants to think about how they would address the challenge without any of the usual constraints: What if you only had 24 hrs to develop a solution? How could you develop a solution that is...
Object Brainstorming is a non-threatening, abstract and contextually adaptable warm-up exercise, using tangible objects to help externalise the thought process involved in ideation. It involves bringing one or more functional objects to a...
Wallet Project is a useful exercise for introducing the concept of user-centred design. It enables participants to practice the process, get the feel of a design approach and gain some shared vocabulary. Stanford University’s D.School provide a...
Bundling Ideas encourages you to cluster similar ideas together, identify the best aspects of those ideas, and then combine different clusters of ideas into bundles. These then become themes that can use to start building concepts. As IDEO...