Weathering the Brainstorm

At a design conference a few years back, I opened the “goodie bag” to find a pad of waterproof paper. I immediately considered keeping it in the shower because I get some of my best ideas there.

If you’ve ever had a similar experience — and I suspect you have — you know that the creative process doesn’t like to be forced, especially when a major deadline looms. Brainstorming can also seem challenging in a world where “there’s nothing new under the sun”.

In this post, we’ll explore strategies for unlocking your creativity. But first, let’s do a little myth-busting.

The Myth of “Creative Block”

Call it “writer’s block”, “designer’s block”, “creative block” or whatever you like. I won’t say it doesn’t happen, but I will argue that it’s not some random malady that strikes creative people for no reason. 

It’s merely a sign that you haven’t done your homework.

Creative work doesn’t begin when you sit down in front of a blank computer screen, notepad or artist’s easel. In fact, it doesn’t even start with the brainstorming process. We’re creating all the time.

Before the Storm: Gathering Seeds

In his New York Times best-selling book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, producer Rick Rubin encourages readers to watch for idea “seeds” — potential creative starting points that come our way all the time. A seed might be a musical phrase, a sentence, a shape, a common inconvenience, or any other spark of inspiration. 

According to Rubin, the more open we are to external clues, the less effort it takes to be creative:
You might imagine that the outside world is a conveyor belt with a stream of small packages on it, always going by. The first step is to notice the conveyor belt is there. And then, any time you want, you can pick up one of those packages, unwrap it, and see what’s inside.

It’s important not to judge seeds as “good” or “bad” too early. This step is just about being open to signals, often random, that can inspire new ideas. 

In addition to seeds you might encounter anywhere, it’s worth keeping an eye on high-quality work in your field. Behance, award-winning marketing campaigns, projects your colleagues are working on and industry-specific trend news are all great sources of inspiration for B2B marketers.

The Best Storms Come out of a Blue Sky

A Disney Imagineer once told me about “blue sky” sessions: brainstorming meetings where he and his colleagues were encouraged to come up with ideas without worrying about whether they were possible. The concept was to think big without self-censorship; the details could be worked out later.

An advertising agency I used to work with took this idea one step further. They issued squirt guns to everyone who attended brainstorming meetings. Anyone who claimed something couldn’t be done was a fair target.

So here’s your starting point: What would you do if you weren’t limited by time, budget, current technology, or anything else?

Should You Brainstorm in a Group or by Yourself?

Opinions vary about which is better: getting the whole team together to generate ideas or having individuals brainstorm independently. There are passionate advocates for both strategies.

The primary case for groupthink is that multiple people can potentially generate more ideas faster. Bouncing concepts back and forth can also result in ideas that individuals might not have come up with on their own — especially if you have a diverse team.
The flip side of group brainstorming is that it can easily be derailed if any member doesn’t participate, dominates the discussion, or is afraid of criticism. Even the loudest champions of the group approach often caution that it requires a non-judgmental environment (so keep those squirt guns handy).

In her New York Times bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain challenges long-standing beliefs about the benefits of group brainstorming. Citing nearly 40 years of research, she claims that performance gets worse as group size increases: “… groups of nine generate fewer and poorer ideas compared to groups of six, which do worse than groups of four.” One of the first studies on group brainstorming, conducted in 1963, found that 23 out of 24 groups produced more and better-quality ideas when members worked alone than in groups of four.

She goes on to note:
The one exception to this is online brainstorming. Groups brainstorming electronically, when properly managed, not only do better than individuals, research shows; the larger the group, the better it performs.

Cain concludes that a sense of connection is the primary benefit of group brainstorming. Although this has value, she cautions that the scientific evidence suggests people typically think their groups perform much better than they actually do.

Having participated in all three approaches — face-to-face, alone and online — I’ve found that all three have their merits. Personally, I favor a hybrid approach that combines solo work with one-on-one or small group collaboration.

Your mileage may vary, so experiment to find the approach that works best for you. Be aware, however, that trust and respect are critical to any group interaction; even a whiff of toxicity can shut the creative process down.

Strategies for the Perfect Storm

You’ve done your prep work, opened your mind to limitless possibilities, and optimized your brainstorming environment. Now let’s explore strategies to get your creative juices flowing.

Look for Unsolved Problems

What frustrates your customers and prospects most? Is it something you can fix? Better yet, is it something only you can fix?
Once you’ve identified a problem, don’t just spout the details of your solution. Ask why a customer should care — passionately — about your offering, rather than anyone else’s. How can you state the case for it in human, rather than technical terms?

Free Writing

Set a timer for 10 minutes or a word count target (750 is a good goal). Once you start writing, there’s only one rule: don’t stop. You can write anything you want, as long as you keep going until the time is up or you reach your target. If at any point you can’t think of what to say, keep writing the word “write” — or anything else — until the next idea comes. Unsurprisingly, complaining about the need to keep writing is common and normal.

You can benefit from this exercise, even if you don’t consider yourself a good writer. The goal isn’t to create polished prose, but to focus your attention, clear junk out of your head, and help you tap into your subconscious. It also encourages you to think beyond your first few ideas by exploring additional options.

Mashups

Many of the best ideas happen not by coming up with something completely new, but by combining existing things in new ways.
Readers of a certain vintage may remember a series of ads for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: “Your chocolate is in my peanut butter!”

“Your peanut butter is in my chocolate!”

That sums up this approach pretty succinctly.

Switch Directions

• What is your competition doing? 
• What is your industry doing? 
• What creative styles or tools do you gravitate toward? 

Whatever your answers to these questions, do something completely different.

Experiment With Limitations

Although creative people complain about them, limitations frequently inspire some of their best work. For an excellent example, look no further than Shakespeare’s sonnets. They’re arguably some of the finest poetry ever written, despite the rigid restrictions of the structure and iambic pentameter.

Sometimes you’ll already have clear limitations imposed by the project (e.g., character counts for social media). If that’s not enough to inspire a creative workaround, try throwing another arbitrary limitation into the mix and see what you come up with.

You can also make a bold statement by challenging limits: set up an expectation based on common limitations, then defy it for dramatic effect. Before Shakespeare, English poet Sir Thomas Wyatt often did this by intentionally messing with the “rules” of the sonnet form.

Try Something Random

Randomness can be a great strategy if you get stuck or find yourself in a rut. This can be as simple as flipping a coin or consulting a Magic 8 Ball. 

Rick Rubin (previously mentioned) opens books to random pages when seeking solutions to challenging problems. He also has an interesting take on the coin flip: if you can’t decide between two options, flip a coin and pay attention to how you feel before it lands. Chances are, you’ll discover that you’re hoping for one result or the other — and that’s the one to go with.

Randomness is also the driving force behind some more elaborate tools. Musician Brian Eno and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt co-created the Oblique Strategies deck to inspire artists with random creative prompts, especially when composing music. Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack takes a similar approach to creativity in general.

Push Comfort Levels

Don’t just try something different; try something radically different. It’s easier to scale a wild idea back than to pump up the volume of a tame one.

In a recent brainstorming session, one of our creative directors said something I’ve adopted as a mantra: “Let’s pitch one idea the client will be comfortable with, one that will push them to be a little bolder, and one that will scare them.”

Go Do Something Else

Sometimes great ideas need time to percolate. Whenever possible, build time not to think about the project into your process. Sleep on it, go to lunch, take a walk, visit a museum, or whatever. Your unconscious will continue to work on the problem. Keep something handy to record ideas when they come, because they’ll often show up when you least expect them to appear. 

Before I had a smartphone, I kept notebooks, scratch pads and pens just about everywhere: in my home office, car, basement, kitchen and bedside table. And I wasn’t joking about giving serious consideration to that waterproof pad in the shower.

Develop More Ideas Than You Think You’ll Need

Sometimes your first idea will be the best. But sometimes it’s the third, the fifth or the tenth. Writing down good ideas frees your brain to explore other directions, so get concepts on paper or into your techno-gizmo of choice as soon as you can.

10 Creative Prompts to Get You Going

1. If your idea were a person, who would he/she/they be?
2. Describe what matters most about your idea in 10 words or less. Then do the same thing with just five words. Then do it in two.
3. How could your offering help a customer take over the world?
4. What insights do you know about your customers that generative AI would never come up with?
5. How can you position your offering as a major step in the evolution of its kind, rather than an incremental improvement or “me too” reaction to the competition?
6. Who should be excited about your offering? Why would they be so enthusiastic?
7. Imagine you have only eight seconds to tell someone about your idea. What’s the most important thing you’d want them to know?
8. Imagine you can only communicate what’s awesome about your offering with a single image: a photograph, drawing, rendering, etc. What would it look like?
9. Explain why someone’s life would be better after they buy your offering without using words like “efficient”, “productive” or “solution”. Why would it make them feel great? What will their experience be like?
10. How would you describe your offering to a grandparent who’s never owned a smartphone?

This list is just the tip of the iceberg. Type “creative prompts” or “writing prompts” into your favorite search engine to find more.