Enterprise Nation

In preparing for a lecture he was delivering to students on the source of good ideas, Sinclair Ashman read up on the thoughts of eminent designers and came to the conclusion that there’s no magic formula when it comes to creativity and ideas generation, but you can at least create the circumstances where good ideas have the chance to emerge.

Creating the right conditions

If you’re wanting to come up with new ideas for your business, try these:

1. Keep your eyes, ears and mind open at all times
2. Do your homework. Find out and understand all you can about your subject matter – answers don't usually magic themselves out of thin air
3. Share the problem by asking others what they think – they may say, draw or otherwise spark something that leads to a great idea. Oh, and remember that we're all creative people, so ask someone you wouldn’t normally ask
4. Surround yourself with visual stimuli and be prepared to make unexpected or illogical connections
5. Look at how others have approached similar problems
6. Persevere. Keep going – an idea is more likely to materialise in hours, rather than minutes
7. If nothing is working then stop thinking about the problem, go for a walk and try again later. Believe me, it's not wasted time

Sinclair Ashman

Click here to see the full post including a video on the great British designer Alan Fletcher, who talks about his book 'The Art of Looking Sideways'