💭 10 Methods to Generate New Ideas
Creativity isn’t magic — it’s a process that can be developed through practice and the right methods. Below are 10 effective techniques to spark innovative thinking and help you generate fresh, original ideas in any field.
1️⃣ Brainstorming (Alex Osborn)
A group of people actively shares and develops ideas, analyzing them together. The key is quantity first, evaluation later — the more ideas generated, the better the chances of finding a breakthrough one.
2️⃣ Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”
This method encourages thinking from different perspectives by symbolically “wearing” six colored hats:
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White: facts and data,
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Black: risks and weaknesses,
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Yellow: benefits and positives,
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Green: creativity and alternatives,
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Red: emotions and intuition,
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Blue: control and conclusions.
Switching hats helps structure thinking and avoid bias.
3️⃣ Mind Mapping (Tony Buzan)
Place the main concept in the center of a page and draw associative branches from it. Each branch represents a related idea or keyword. This visual structure boosts memory and helps uncover new connections and insights.
4️⃣ Synectics (William Gordon)
The core of this technique is finding analogies. Create a table:
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Column 1 — direct analogies,
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Column 2 — indirect ones.
Compare and combine features to generate new ideas.
Example: “pencil” → direct analogy: “thick pencil”; its opposite: “flat pencil” → idea: “bookmark pencil.”
5️⃣ Focal Objects Method (Charles Whiting)
Combine attributes of unrelated objects to create something new.
Example: combine “candle” and “New Year.” The result? A festive “sparkling candle” with glitter mixed into the wax.
6️⃣ Morphological Analysis (Fritz Zwicky)
Break an object into components and list their key characteristics. Then modify and recombine them in new ways. This often leads to completely fresh product designs or innovative concepts.
7️⃣ Oblique Strategies (Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt)
Draw a random card from a deck of creative prompts — such as “use an old idea in a new way” or “embrace your mistakes.” This method helps break mental blocks and spark unexpected inspiration.
8️⃣ The “Bus, Bed, Bath” Method
Great ideas often appear when your mind is relaxed — during a commute, before sleep, or while bathing. Don’t force creativity; give your subconscious time and space to deliver insights.
9️⃣ Decoding
Look at mysterious symbols, foreign scripts, or hieroglyphs and try to “interpret” them. The associations that appear in your mind during this exercise can lead to surprising creative concepts.
🔟 Idea Trap
Record every idea — big or small — in a notebook or voice recorder. Review your notes regularly; a simple thought from weeks ago might become the seed of your next big project.
🌱 Final Thought:
Creativity thrives when you allow curiosity, structure, and playfulness to coexist. Experiment with these methods — and soon, generating ideas will become second nature.
