How can you encourage creative thinking during the concept design phase?

Encouraging creative thinking during the concept design phase involves fostering an open and collaborative environment. Prioritize brainstorming sessions where team members freely share ideas without judgment. Embrace diversity in perspectives and backgrounds to stimulate unique viewpoints. Provide inspiration through exposure to various stimuli, including art, technology, and real-world examples. Encourage risk-taking and experimentation, fostering a mindset that welcomes unconventional solutions. Establish a culture that values and rewards creativity, and ensure that team members feel empowered to explore and contribute their imaginative ideas during the concept design phase.

The best place to start is the creative brief and assumptions the project is based on. To quote the AI text: "These assumptions and constraints can limit your scope and prevent you from seeing new opportunities or perspectives." Reframing the problem can often uncover new opportunities that can be more impactful than the original.

One of my favorite ways to encourage creative thinking during the concept design phase is to look to parallel industries. For example, if I'm designing colors for a running shoe, I may consider what else that runner is doing in those shoes. Are they participating in other endurance sports? Maybe they're walking in them or even participating in triathlons. As a result, the cycling industry may be a good place to look for inspiration. It's surprising how similar and different cultures across parallel industries can be compared to the industry you're used to designing for. These parallel industries just might be the perfect place to gain different perspectives for your next project.

Duplicate those art boards with reckless abandon. This helps you get comfortable with moving past your initial designs. Challenge your decisions and force yourself to explore contrasting ideas and solutions. Embracing ambiguity is important as well. You almost never have ALL the inputs you'd like.

Speaker and author John Maxwell has some very sage advice on planning a key communication - that could easily be applied in a group setting. In his book, The 16 Laws of Communication, he says, “There are 5 essentials to communication – Who says it? What is said? How it is said? When it is said? Why it is said?” Again, this information can be used in any creative project, for any modality of communication, and with any group of creative professionals. The rigor of having a basic questionnaire in mind going into a creative brainstorming meeting can seem to take away some of the spontaneity; but, I guarantee that answering these questions will help to keep the meeting on focused on the goal!

Create an atmosphere more inspiring than a brainstorm in a chocolate factory. Start with a ridiculous warm up exercise. I once had a team design a spaceship for penguins. It was out of this world! ???? I once witnessed a brainstorming session that was drier than a biscuit in the Sahara. Inject energy! Play upbeat music, toss around a beach ball of ideas, and remember, a laugh can be more illuminating than a lightbulb moment. ???? Encourage wild ideas. The crazier, the better. It's like a buffet pile your plate with the weirdest concepts. You never know when a spaghetti flavored ice cream idea turns into the next big thing. ???? Break out of the meeting room jail. Sometimes, the best ideas are lurking in a park or a quirky coffee shop.