About this Video

• Video Title: 11 - Common Mistakes during Ideation Stage (Third Step of Design Thinking: Ideate)
• Channel: Coding Studio
• Speakers: (Speaker name not available in transcript)
• Duration: 00:11:22

Introduction

This video discusses the ideation stage in design thinking, highlighting common mistakes and offering solutions. The speaker explains the purpose of ideation (generating numerous creative solutions), and then details frequent errors encountered in professional settings, such as focusing on quality over quantity and a lack of collaboration.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on Quantity, Not Quality: During the ideation phase, prioritize generating a large number of diverse ideas, rather than prematurely focusing on the quality or polish of individual concepts.
• Collaboration is Crucial: Effective ideation benefits significantly from collaboration. Multiple perspectives lead to more creative and effective solutions. The lack of collaboration in professional settings is a common problem due to time constraints and individual workloads.
• Effective Idea Selection: Instead of voting on entire designs ("whole-scale voting"), utilize a method like "dot voting" to evaluate individual components or concepts separately. This facilitates building upon and improving individual ideas iteratively.
• No Judgement During Ideation: Create a safe space where participants feel free to share even unconventional ideas without fear of immediate criticism. The goal is to generate numerous diverse ideas first.
• Time Management and Scope: While brainstorming creatively, stay focused on a specific problem scope to avoid generating unrelated ideas and wasting time. Remember that time constraints exist, especially in professional environments.

Let's delve into the key takeaways with more detail relevant to UI/UX design:

1. Focus on Quantity, Not Quality (Divergent Thinking): In the initial ideation phase, your primary goal is divergent thinking—exploring a wide range of possibilities. Don't worry about making every idea perfect; instead, aim for quantity. Sketch rapidly, jot down concepts, and don't self-censor. Tools like brainstorming sessions, mind mapping, and quick sketching exercises are beneficial. Think of this stage as a free-flowing exploration of solutions, aiming for breadth before depth. Only after generating numerous options do you move towards refining and selecting the most promising ones (convergent thinking). In UI/UX, this translates to quickly sketching multiple layouts, exploring different navigation patterns, and experimenting with various interaction models without getting bogged down in pixel-perfect details.

2. Collaboration is Crucial (Multiple Perspectives): UI/UX design is rarely a solo endeavor. Collaboration brings diverse perspectives, skillsets, and experiences to the table. Involving designers, developers, researchers, and even potential users helps identify potential usability issues, uncover unmet needs, and generate more innovative design solutions. This can involve team brainstorming sessions, design critiques, user interviews, and usability testing. In the ideation stage, collaboration helps to prevent blind spots and biases that can restrict design creativity.

3. Effective Idea Selection (Dot Voting & Iterative Refinement): Once you've generated many ideas, you need a structured approach to selection. Avoid judging entire designs at once. Instead, use techniques like dot voting to evaluate individual components or concepts. This allows for granular feedback and enables the team to build upon strong elements from multiple ideas. For example, you might have multiple sketches with different navigation paradigms. Dot voting could help determine which aspects of navigation are most preferred, then these can be combined and refined into a single, more effective system. Iterative refinement, using feedback and evaluation, is crucial to move from a broad range of ideas to focused development.

4. No Judgement (Creating a Safe Space): A judgment-free environment is essential for creative brainstorming. Encourage team members to freely express even seemingly outlandish ideas. Early criticism stifles creativity. This requires setting clear ground rules, actively encouraging participation, and refraining from premature evaluation. In a UI/UX context, this means creating a culture where designers can experiment with unconventional designs without fear of ridicule. This fosters innovation and prevents valuable ideas from being dismissed prematurely.

5. Time Management and Scope (Focused Ideation): While encouraging creativity, efficient time management is crucial. This means clearly defining the problem's scope before you begin ideation. This prevents the team from getting sidetracked by unrelated ideas. Setting time limits for brainstorming sessions or individual tasks helps maintain focus and ensures progress. For example, allocate a specific time to brainstorm navigation solutions for a particular screen, rather than trying to solve all interface design problems at once. Prioritize and focus your effort for better results.