"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep. The ideation process is about embracing every idea, even the bad ones, because sometimes the most unexpected thoughts lead to the most innovative solutions."

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert

The Ideation stage in design thinking is the third step, where you generate a wide range of creative ideas to address the user-centered problem defined earlier. This stage encourages brainstorming, exploring diverse possibilities, and challenging assumptions to discover innovative solutions. The goal is to think expansively, pushing beyond the obvious, before selecting the most promising ideas for further development and prototyping.

The Ideation Stage:

Brainstorm Freely: Encourage the team to generate a diverse range of ideas without constraints or judgment. Focus on creating as many ideas as possible, fostering creativity and pushing boundaries.
Frame the Challenge with Questions: Use open-ended questions to reframe the problem, guiding the team to think creatively about how to solve it and uncovering new possibilities.
Group and Build on Ideas: Organise similar ideas into clusters and encourage team members to expand or combine concepts, refining them into more detailed and innovative solutions.
Encourage Divergent Thinking: Push the team to explore different perspectives and challenge assumptions, opening the door to unexpected and creative solutions.
Prioritise and Select: Review the range of ideas, and collaboratively evaluate which ones are the most feasible, impactful, or aligned with user needs, setting the stage for further development.