Good ideas aren’t necessarily hard to find. It’s the process, as Dean Young says of writing, involved with finding them that’s difficult. It might be work one might not want to do. It’s a process that’s both creative and analytical; at least, it is once one becomes accustomed to the process of coming up with good ideas. What, though, is that process? It probably varies from person to person but, perhaps, some generalizations can be made.
Write (or Draw) ALL the Ideas
My friend Margie and I play with ideas. Many of them are completely inane, and we know this from the start. We still pursue them because the silliness is an outlet from our more serious selves. It also is a way for us to circle the real idea we’re contemplating. We give that idea some breathing room. In giving it, we make room for the good idea that may arrive if we stop focusing on it so much that it withers right before our eyes.
Others refer to a thing called the “McDonald’s” process or theory. With that process, all of the ideas are written or drawn – I leave room for drawing because some people sketch their ideas better than they write them – and judgment is withheld. Even the ideas that everyone readily admits are not the right ones are given a few brief seconds to live on the wall or table.
Bring the Ideas into Focus
Once a few ideas with merit are found, they have to be grown. They may be good, but they need to cross into the “great” territory. They only can do that with tending. The work might be boring and painful at times, but it has to be done. The silliness has to be set aside for seriousness. The creativity has to be corralled. It has to live within constraints such as deadlines, budgets, and client demands.
Ideas identified as altogether bad or unrelated to the work at hand are tossed aside in favor of ideas that do answer the question identified in the creative brief. It is a part of the process that is very much anchored in both destruction and creation. Destruction in that ideas are taken off the wall or slid off the table; creation in the sense that good ideas are allowed to mature into what they could be.
The Time between the Two Phases Shortens
As one becomes accustomed to tossing ideas aside, the time span between what could be called free thinking or stream of consciousness and focusing shortens. It’s less problematic to “kill” ideas because the copywriter and designer are interested in not merely ideas but good ideas that can grow. It becomes easier to shift from the wild and creative to the controlled and creative. At some point, the two phases even begin to seem to merge. They never do entirely – coming up with ideas requires freedom while developing them requires constraints – but the time shortens so much that the two phases feel as though they have become one.
What do you think about finding good ideas? Do you view the process as both creative and destructive? What about your views on constraints? Are they a required part of creativity?
Image: Johannes H. Jensen (CC BY NC SA 2.0)