Having a process also allows you to think of ideas that may not be easily apparent. What's one thing you do to help come up with new ideas? How can you incorporate this into a repeatable framework (for yourself as well as those you collaborate with)?
The short time between consciousness and falling asleep after a long day at work has always been my eureka moment. So I make sure there’s a notepad by my bedside where I pen down ideas that pop up. More frequently, ideas come when I consume content of others from various sources. I also love to brainstorm with colleagues, friends/family, and get a wider or different perspective on things.
Brainstorming with other people mainly helps me to come up with ideas. The combination of our different opinions and experiences often allows us to come up with ideas that are more elaborate than the ones we would have come up with on our own. Otherwise, when I'm alone, the best way to find an idea is actually not to think about it. It's when I'm thinking about something else that I feel more inspired and ideas suddenly pop into my head.
In terms of the work environment, I think it would fit in well with an open-space environment that promotes exchange. We also need spaces that allow us to get away from the office and to think about other things in order to increase creativity.
Brainstorming with others helps me a lot. Ideating alone with a blank canvas leads to nowhere but as soon as there are a few (random) ideas it's so much easier to start developing those. To make this repeatable in a marketing agency context, there should always be a brainstorming session at the beginning of every project. Unfortunately that's not always possible. Maybe one could try to use some of our digital tools for this? Brainstorming on Slack, could that work?
I really like to create Mind Maps, it helps to visualize and evolve from very simple ideas into more creative ones. Doing this in a group is even better and more efficient.
Writing ideas down, or recording them. Usually starting with it when consciously processing the input, and continuing while ideas come out during the unconscious phase.
And dishwashing has been so far the most frequent time of eureka moment...
I am doing a reserach by using different materials such as computer, books, television programs and communication with people from various communities.
I often surf content marketing websites to learn from them how to write content. Take the time to read books, books can help me gather a lot of content.
I check the news, go through social media, and have insightful conversations with others. Then, when that idea hits, I listen to music and gather my thoughts.
I take notes of ideas, keywords, media formats, and more both when passively consuming media and when actively doing research. Even when I'm not doing anything related to idea generation, I make sure I have my phone or a notepad to write down ideas on just in case one pops up.
Mostly researching online with some specific keywords, reading others' work related to these keywords. Sometimes trying to expand the topic and/or narrow it down to get another perspective.
I do a lot of research jot down the keywords and important points and whenever I'm busy doing some house chores rather than my blog work I always make sure to make notes on my phone to later pin it down.
