Idea generation techniques.

Creativity is the key factor to enhance user experience in today’s competitive market.

Creativity is not inherent; it can be trained and developed like any other skill. There are several techniques to deal with those “blocking moments” where creative ideas do not flow, to get out of the comfort zone, and to generate original solutions.

These are some of the most known techniques to generate creative ideas, whether individually or by group:

• Mind Mapping: It is a technique based on the visual and associative thinking that uses a tree structure diagram to organize and classify ideas in a visual way. Starting from a core concept, it builds relationships through a radial structure to enable analysis from various perspectives, graphically representing every alternative path of solution. This technique stimulates innovation, productivity, collaboration, and strategy development.
• Brainstorming: It is a group work technique that uses an unstructured interactive process and collects ideas freely, without any prejudice or criticism. It is led by a facilitator and gets creative input from each participant while keeping the focus on the issue to be solved, seeking to obtain as many new ideas as possible.
• Storyboard: This technique allows previewing the main ideas sequentially, thus giving the opportunity to anticipate the flow of user interaction with the product or service, detect strengths, and even remove unnecessary steps.