These instructions should not appear your exported PDF. This Softcover template’s total width and spine width MUST be modified based on the exact number of pages in your book. For help with this visit this link for instructions and a video example: http://blurb.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/475 Following these instructions assure that your PDF is the correct size. A wrong-sized PDF will fail Preflight and need to be redone. Remember, that the total document width is more important than the spine width, as this measurement is only for a visual reference for the designer when adding content to the spine.
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The Book of (your) ideas 56 sheets 7 x 7 in (18 x 18 cm) Ruled - checkered - dotted - diagramed - ....
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Table of Contents Brainstorming 101 Ideas The Random Words Technique Running low on Ideas? Mind mapping Affinity Diagram / KJ-method Fishbone Model / Ishikawa Diagram Trade-off Did you find the perfect idea? Heaven vs. Hell Chart The Kipling Method (5W1H) The Iceberg Analogy Flowchart Decision Tree Gap filling Checkpoint Charlie Keep the creative juices flowing... SWOT Analysis The Medici Effect The Perspective Diagram The SCAMPER Technique The white page One final tip
6 / the book of (your) ideas
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“A new idea is like a child. It’s easier to conceive than to deliver.”
With this quote of Ted Koysis we would like to introduce to you our newest offspring... the book of (your) ideas. Can you relate to that moment when you’re just falling asleep and you have the greatest idea ever? Your ‘eureka’-moment? Most of the time you don’t even remember it when you get up in the morning. And if you do, you don’t have the time to think it through to make it sprout into a viable, long-term plan. The book of (your) ideas will help you structure you wildest plans into a well-founded scenario for future projects. The different diagrams and schemes can be applied to all sorts of ideas and sectors. We supply you with a short explanation on each diagram and space to craft your own. You might find diagrams that you’ve never heard about before and maybe they make you look at your idea in a different light.
Brainstorming Brainstorming rules Encourage all ideas no matter how 1/ exaggerated or far fetched they might be. All ideas are equal, no matter 2/ who came up with them or how unrealistic they might seem. Go for quantity, not quality. 3/ The more ideas the better! Don’t evaluate the ideas 4/ during the brainstorming session. Only generate! Don’t evaluate.
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If you hadn’t had your ‘eureka’-moment yet or your are looking for a technique to generate new ideas, the most common one is brainstorming. Brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas around a specific topic or area of interest. The basis of this meeting is to minimalize all inhibitions so the members of the group can think more freely and create numerous new ideas. Interaction is key. Everybody expresses their ideas and in the mean time builds further on the ideas of others. All ideas should be noted down and futher analyzed in a next stage.
101 Ideas Write a list of at least 101 ideas to deal 1/ with your situation. Go wild and write 2/ whatever you can think of. Do not stop until 3/ you have at least 101.
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The Random Words Technique Find a random word. 1/ Look for associations. 2/ Use these associations 3/ to create new ideas.
related online tool The TDB Special Projects Idea Generator is a three wheel tool that gives you random three-word phrases. While three-word phrases may not give you as much input as entire web pages, it’s still a useful way to give you diverse inputs. Look at the random words which are presented to you and see if something comes to your mind. http://www.tdbspecialprojects. com/#169515/Idea-Generator
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The random words technique is used to seek creative new ideas, re-ignite your thinking proccess when you are running low on ideas and to stimulate you and other members in your brainstorming session to think out of the box.
Random word of the day
Running low on ideas? Try one of the following online tools...
StumbleUpon presents you with random pages whenever you press the Stumble button in the toolbar. There are a lot of topics provided by StumbleUpon which you can choose from. You can then retrieve random pages either in a specific topic, or in all topics of your preferences. To maximize diversity, generally it’s better to stumble in all topics.
Google Alerts
Monitor the Web for interesting new content Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you’ll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include: - Monitoring a developing news story - Keeping current on a competitor or industry - Getting the latest on a celebrity or event - Keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams http://www.google.com/alerts
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
TheBrain Technology helps people make
sense of the wide range of information they need to organize and assimilate on a daily basis. They believe that two brains are better than one. And if you extend and capture your thinking about your projects and life you can get some amazing stuff done. http://www.thebrain.com/
Free the Genie Free the Genie is an online brainstorming tool that makes it refreshingly easy for individuals, teams, and entire organizations to generate, develop, and share new ideas. All you need to do is think of a question — then click on any one of the four games. Depending on the game you choose, different innovation-sparking cards will appear. You read the cards, reflect, and email your ideas to the people you want to share them with. That’s it. http://www.freethegenie.com
Mind mapping Make a central image that represents 1/ the idea which you are thinking about. Connect main themes 2/ directly to this central image. Add a second level of thought. 3/
In a mind map ideas, words, tasks or other items are linked and arranged around a central idea or keyword. A mind map is mostly used to visualize, generate and structure ideas. It’s also a useful tool in solving problems, making decisions and organizing information.
Out of ideas? Add pictures or symbols 4/ to your mind map. Make each mind map a little more beautiful, artistic, colorful, imaginative, dimensional,... .
write your conceptual idea here..
EXAGERATE !!!!!!
add additional levels of thought
mac apps & other tools MindNode http://www.mindnode.com/ http://www.spiceynodes.org
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connect main themes to the central image
u Yo
r main idea g
o es
e >> he r
Affinity Diagram / KJ-method Note each idea from 1/ a brainstorm on a card / Post-it®. Group the ideas that are in one way 2/ or another related to each other. In a second phase large clusters of ideas 3/ can be divided into subgroups to get a better overview.
mac app Sticky Brainstorming http://stickybrainstorming.com/
22 / the book of (your) ideas
Having too many ideas and don’t know where to start? An affinity diagram (also known as the KJ method – Jiro Kawakita) is helpful in organizing ideas and data. It is often used to sort large numbers of ideas, resulting out of a brainstorm, into groups for later analysis or reviewing. The affinity diagram can later be used to create a fishbone diagram (see next page).
Cut out the squares, note your ideas on them and start grouping them into clusters >>
Fishbone Model / Ishikawa Diagram Determine the head 1/ (topic or effect) of the fish. Determine the factors that 2/ are related to the head. Determine if it is possible and desirable 3/ to group certain factors or causes together into categories. The categories you select should be determined by the topic or effect being analyzed.
A fishbone model is a visual illustration showing the relationship between a topic and multiple factors related to it. The shape of the model looks like the skeleton of a fish. The head of the fish represents the topic to be analyzed, and the bones of the fish represent the factors or categories of factors related to the topic.
Draw the fishbone diagram and fill in 4/ all of the necessary information.
cause 2
cause 1 detail 1.1
detail 2.1
detail 1.2
detail 2.2
detail 1.3
detail 2.3
problem detail 3.1 detail 3.2 detail 3.3
cause 3 24 / the book of (your) ideas
e de ter m in
th
do ea h e
or fy
... fish
add the factor-categories
Trade-off Write your different concepts/ideas 1/ in the left-hand column. Write the different specifications 2/ you want to evaluate your ideas on in the top horizontal column. Give each specification a value 3/ between 1 & 5. The most important specification gets the highest value. Different specifications can have the same value/importance. Give each idea a score between 4/ 1 & 10 on each specification. Multiply the value of each specification 5/ with the score of the concept and add these up to get a final score per concept. The highest one wins!
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A trade-off is commonly used in product design processes. When a designer has developed multiple concepts, a trade-off is used to compare these concepts on a number of specifications. Each specification is given a weight (between 1-5) and each concept is then given a score (between 1-10) for every specification. Finally the score of each concept is multiplied with the value of the specification resulting in a total score. The concept scoring the highest, should the most viable to develop further.
Specifications: Write your specifications in the vertical columns on the right >> (there’s space for 6)
Value (1-5): Write your different concepts/ideas here
>
>
>
>
Value x Score
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Did you find the perfect idea? Congratulations!
Now it’s time to see how far you’ll go with this one. Use one or more of the schemes on the following pages to analyze your idea. See what parts it consists of, what decisions need to be made and in the end how feasible it is to develop your idea further.
the book of (your) ideas / 29
Heaven vs. Hell Chart Place the positive aspects 1/ at the top of the chart and the negative ones at the bottom. Place the best at the very top, 2/ working your way down to the worst of all.
Almost every idea you come up with will have a good and a bad side. In the beginning you will of course only see the good side and pay no attention to the ‘flaws’ of your idea. The Heaven vs. Hell Chart is very useful when it comes to depicting both sides of an argument and for getting a visual overview of the positive and negative aspects of a topic. In marketing and sales this diagram is often used to visualize the benefits of a product on the heaven side and the costs of that product on the hell side. You can even refine the chart by placing certain keywords higher up or lower down in, for example heaven, to indicate how good that particular item is, in relation to the others.
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Heaven / Positive
Hell / Negative
The Kipling Method (5W1H) Ask the 5 W and 1 H questions. 1/ Extend the questions. 2/ Ask a planned sequence of questions. 3/
The basis of this method is a simple poem written by Rudyard Kipling: I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. This set of questions is an ideal starting point when you are in doubt as to what to ask. This method is ideal when: - You want to select an idea for further development. - Ideas have run out and you need a fresh impulse. - You want to take a different approach on a problem. An example: What is the problem? My suitcase is too heavy. Where is it happening? At the airport . When is it happening? In the evening, coming back from France. Why is it happening? Because I have bought wine. How can you overcome this problem? Get the wine shipped. Who do you need to get involved? The winery will do it for me. When will you know that you have solved the problem? When it arrives at home.
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What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?
Who?
When?
The Iceberg Analogy Write keywords for what’s visible 1/ above the surface. Place all non-visible 2/ items ‘under water’. Get a better understanding of how 3/ the non-visible components might influence the visible ones. 4/
Seeing what’s below the surface... With this type of model you make a visualization of what is visible and what is ‘underneath the surface’. Originally it was used by Freud to illustrate his structure of the human mind. An example: A name, visual identity and trademark are the visual components of a company branding. The emotional and added values of the company, the brand promise, company mission, etc. are below the surface. The same analogy can be applied to a website. In a website the images and content are the visible components. A far more substantial part is not visible and has nothing to do with how the website looks, but how it functions and performs.
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Flowchart Write out the different 1/ steps of your process. Note your first action in 2/ the box below start. Add more rectangles and arrows and 3/ arrow until you reach a decision point. Draw a diamond shape there and 4/ connecting arrows for each possible decision to the next step/rectangle. Draw the end capsule. 5/
A flowchart is most commonly used to depict a process or algorithm. All the steps of the process are put into different kinds of boxes depending on their nature. These boxes are connected by arrows. By arranging all the steps of a process in this fashion, a step-by-step solution to a problem can be achieved. The arrows, connecting the boxes represent the direction or flow of the data. Note: A flowchart is also ideal for drawing out the structure of a website with all it’s main- and subpages.
basic flowchart shapes mac app Process
Decision
Document
Delay
Display
Data
Preparation
Diagrammix: http://www.deepit.ru
Stored data
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Manual Operation
Manual Input
start
Decision Tree Starting point of your decision tree: 1/ write a decision you need to make in the small square at the left. Draw lines to the right for 2/ each possible solution and write the solution along the line. Draw the result at the end of each line: 3/ Result = uncertain > draw circle. Result = an other decision > draw square.
In the decision-tree diagram a tree-like model is drawn up of all decisions that have to be made and their possible consequences to reach a predefined goal. This analysis should help you identify a strategy that will most likely make you reach that goal. To take into account all parameters that can affect the outcome, you should also include chance event outcomes, the cost of your resources, utilities, ... .
From the circles, draw lines 4/ representing possible outcomes. From te new squares, draw out lines 5/ representing the possible options. Keep on doing this until you have 6/ drawn out as many of the possible outcomes and decisions as you can.
Add a brief note along each line, square or circle to keep a good overview.
keep icon
new branding
our brand is outdated
new icon new name
rebranding
keep colors new colors
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start
Gap filling Identify your current spot – Point A 1/ and your end goal – Point B. What is the gap that exists 2/ between A and B? What are all the things you 3/ need to bridge this gap? List them and find out what 4/ it takes to get over the gap.
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What do you need to do to bridge the gap between A & B?
Add markers with the things you need to do, to fill up the gap between A & B
A
B
Checkpoint Charlie A bullet list is a list whose items start with the typographical symbol of bullet, that is •, or with other symbols other than numbers.
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Keep the creative juices flowing...
Behance Outfitter
Products and Tools for Creatice Professionals
Inspiration at your fingertips!
All kinds of cool books and notepads to write down your ideas or thoughts on the fly.
Evernote is a fabulous Mac App we recently discovered!
http://www.creativesoutfitter.com/
Evernote
Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see. http://www.evernote.com/
Idea a day
where ideas are free http://ideaaday.org/
SWOT Analysis What are the advantages of your idea? What makes it unique, better than others, ... ?
Strengths/
What can be improved? What should you avoid?
Weaknesses/
Good opportunities. Opportunities/ Current trends and innovations you can use to your advantage, ... Obstacles, competitors, changes in technology, ...
46 / the book of (your) ideas
Threaths/
The SWOT-analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats involved in a project or a new business venture. With this method you specify the goal/objective of your project and then analyze the internal and external environment with all of it’s positive and negative components, which have an influence on wether your reach your goal or not.
Threaths
External environment Opportunities
Internal environment
Strengths Weaknesses
The Medici Effect Determine your goal. 1/ Find comparable goals 2/ from different fields/sectors. Write down the solutions to these goals 3/ to maybe find a solution to your problem. Try to identify parallel solutions between the different fields.
The starting point of the Medici effect is that ideas from seemingly unrelated fields/subjects are often related in one way or an other. For example: Is your goal to become a famous journalist? Take a look at well known television hosts, writers, documentary makers, ... . See if there are any common factors between these people and how they succeeded in reaching their current status. Are there any of these factors that you can apply to your personal situation? The key is to see what you can adopt to reach your goal.
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Your goal:
Write down similar goals from different fields >> >
>
>
>
>
>
Conclusion:
+ the soultion for reaching their goal >>
The Perspective Diagram Note the topic you want 1/ to analyze in the center. Write down your prior knowledge 2/ on the topic at the bottom. Write unknown factors at the top. 3/ Think about current or future negative 4/ and positive experiences on your topic and note them in the corresponding areas.
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Get things into perspective...
Open questions
Main topic >>
Negative experiences
Positive experiences
Prior knowledge
The SCAMPER Technique What can I substitute S / Substitute to make an improvement – parts, people, ...? What parts of a product/ C / process can be combined?
Combine
Which part can be altered? A / In exchange for what?
Adapt
What if you change/distort M / an existing component?
Modify
How can you realign P / your current solution to other purposes?
Put to an other use
What if you simplify, remove E / parts? Go back to basics.
Eliminate
What if you do it R / the other way around ?
Reverse
52 / the book of (your) ideas
The SCAMPER-technique is originally used as a checklist that serves as a guideline in making changes to an existing product to create a new. The 5 keywords of the SCAMPER -list can be direct suggestions to what changes have to be made. Or they can serve as starting points for lateral thinking.
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Modify
Put to other use
Eliminate
Reverse
The white page Write, bullet, illustrate, scheme up,... 1/ Whatever takes your fancy.
54 / the book of (your) ideas
One final tip Make sure your ideas/goals are SMART specific, significant, stretching
S
measurable, meaningful, motivational M
agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
A
realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
R
time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
T
Hopefully the book of (your) ideas has helped you to get a clearer view on your idea and might even have convinced you to start up your project. Once you’re in the planning-stages of your project and are setting out goals to enable you to be successful...
The Book of (your) ideas copyright addwittz grotesteenweg 91 2600 berchem (antwerp) - belgium +32 (0)3 286 80 40 info@thebookofyourideas.com www.thebookofyourideas.com
By this quote of Ted Koysis we would like to introduce These instructions should not appear your exported PDF. offspring... the book of (your) ideas. to you our newest This Softcover template’s total width Can andyou spine width MUST be modified based relate to that moment when your’re juston the exact number of pages in your book. falling asleep and you have the greatest idea ever? Your ‘eureka’-moment? Most of the time you don’t even For help with this visit this link for instructions and ait video remember when example: you get up in the morning. And if you do, you don’t have te time to think it through to make it http://blurb.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/475 sprout into a viable, long-term plan.
“A new idea is like a child. Following these assure thatyou your PDF is you the correct size. book ofinstructions (your) ideas will help structure It’s easier to conceive The wildest plans into a grounded scenario for future A wrong-sized PDFdifferent will fail Preflight to becan redone. projects. The diagramsand andneed schemes be than to deliver.”Remember, thesorts totalofdocument is more important appliedthat to all ideas andwidth sectors. We supply you than the
spine with width,a as thisexplanation measurement is only for a visual reference for the short on each diagram and space to designer when craft youradding own. content to the spine. You might find diagrams that you’ve never heard of before and maybe they make you look at your idea in a different light.
Please note, all critical text and art should appear within this gray area. Any content outside this area may be unevenly trimmed or hidden when the book is bound. If you would like your artwork to extend to the very edge www.thebookofyourideas.com of your finished book, then pull your artwork edge to the red bleed line.