Since I’m and ESNP major and have no design experience, all of these processes are new to me. So far, the ideation process was the most complex and frustrating. I’ve never been the type to come up with stellar designs, or great business ideas, because I just don’t think that’s how my brain works. So, at first, the process took a while to get going for me.
As class went on, I found it challenging to keep coming up with ideas. There were a few that I put on the board that came to mind easily, but after that, I just felt like there was a block in my head. Once ideas started to look similar, thinking of ideas that were unique got harder and harder. Occasionally my group would sit and just look at the board with no idea what else to add. This changed when we had to come up with absurd ideas that would make our group laugh. Even though it sounded useless at first, I think this step was the best step of the ideation process, because it allowed us to put a lot more ideas on the board. It turns out that some of those ideas weren’t even that foolish, and by ‘mining’ them, we could rewrite them and actually use some of the thoughts for real ideas. The mining process allowed our team to get another spark of innovation and turn jokes (somewhat) into ideas that we may use further on. Once voting came along, our group agreed on mostly everything, which was nice. It definitely helps the process when everyone has the same thought process.