Methods of Product Concept Generation
No matter what you do for a living, the success of your business likely depends on how good and creative you are. Top performers are usually better than their less successful peers at coming up with new and interesting ideas, so you should think about how to improve this skill.
Idea generation is the process of coming up with, developing, and sharing concepts that are either concrete or abstract. Simply put, it is the process of coming up with new ways to solve practical problems in all areas of life and work.
But how can you get better at coming up with ideas? Is there a way or strategy you can use to get better at solving problems? Yes, that’s the simple answer. In fact, there are many different ways to come up with creative ideas, so keep reading to find out about seven of them.
The 5W+H Approach
At first glance, it may look like a random list of numbers, but the 5W+H method is a really useful way to deal with a lack of ideas. Who, what, where, when, why, and how are the basic questions you need to ask when thinking about a certain topic.
Jason Richardson, a writer for essay papers, told us: “No matter what the topic is, if you answer each 5W+H question exactly, you can move one step closer to solving your problem. These answers should make you think about the whole topic again and find a different way to look at things.
Listening to others
You don’t have to come up with a great idea all by yourself in order to generate ideas. On the contrary, sometimes it’s enough to do a little social listening and see what the target audience has to say about a certain topic. You can get great ideas from end users on social networks like Facebook or Twitter.
Aside from that, you can always set up a poll to ask people directly what they want. For example, Survey Monkey lets you start a simple survey in just a few minutes. Why not use it as a tool to come up with ideas?
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a well-known method that has been used for decades by people all over the world. Why does this strategy work so well? Well, it’s because no one gets laughed at when they come up with a dumb idea. There is no right or wrong answer. Just say the first thing that comes to mind. After a quick brainstorming session, you just need to go through all of the ideas and pick out the ones that are most likely to work.
Playing a part
It’s not easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but sometimes it’s the only way to break through and come up with a great idea. You just need to switch places with a coworker and try to see things from their point of view. It doesn’t always work right away, but it often leads to new ideas and interesting conclusions.
Use Online Tools
There are lots of cool tools on the Internet that can help you come up with new ideas. You have a lot of choices, but the one you choose will usually depend on the nature of your business and how it works. But we can definitely suggest a couple of useful platforms:
Evernote: Nothing hurts more than coming up with great ideas and then forgetting them. Evernote stops this from happening because it lets you write down every thought as soon as you have it.
Ninja Essays is a group of writers who are very creative and can help you come up with good ideas for your websites, blogs, or research papers.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is another way to get through a lack of inspiration. A mind map is a diagram that shows how tasks, words, ideas, or other things are linked to and arranged around a central idea or subject. It has a non-linear layout that lets the user build an intuitive framework around a central idea.
Say you are writing a movie script. In this case, you can put the main character in the middle of the map and then add links to all the other parts of your movie, such as the plot, love relationships, and supporting roles.
Think backwards
The last answer on our list is a lot of fun. You can think about how not to reach your goal instead of how to reach it. For example, instead of trying to get more Instagram followers, you could make a plan for how to get less. People often come to crazy conclusions when they are “negatively thinking,” which gives them a lot of new ideas.