Every week we get emails and phone calls from people with a good idea and with a desire to meet with us. In many cases, people contact us before they have even put anything on paper themselves. This happens not because they don’t feel like it, but because people don’t know where to start when developing their own idea. That’s why we’ve put some tips on paper.
Tips in Brief
- Do not impose limitations on yourself
- Answer the How, Why and What?
- Describe your idea in one sentence
- Grab a notepad or a drawing tool and sketch your idea
- Create multiple elaborations of your idea
1. Don’t impose limitations on yourself
Imposing limitations on yourself at the beginning of your idea is not good for creativity. We often see people thinking beforehand that something is very expensive to develop, when that does not always have to be the case. So keep all options open.
2. Answer the How, Why and What?
It’s a bit cliche, but answering Simon Sinek’ s How, Why and What lays the foundation of your idea and names the core of your vision. A good example from Simon Sinek’s TED Talk:
“If Apple was like everyone else a marketing message might be: We make great computers. They’re user friendly. Want to buy one? …Here’s how Apple actually communicates: everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”
3. Describe your idea in one sentence
People sometimes have trouble explaining their idea. Try to describe your idea in 1 sentence, you are going back to basics here and this will help you simplify the process.
4. Grab a notepad or a drawing tool and sketch your idea
After you have put down, in text, on paper what your idea is, it is important to draw your idea. You can do this by simply taking a sketch pad and drawing your idea on it. This does not have to be an app right away, for example, but can also be flowcharts, steps or icons. If you find it difficult to draw, you can also use a tool such as Sketch App: https://www.sketchapp.com/.
5. Create multiple elaborations of your idea
99% of the products we have developed have deviated from the original idea. In the end, you always come to different insights during the creative process. Therefore, it is not unwise to work out different scenarios. This can be done in text, but also visually.
After you take these five steps, you will feel much better about your idea. Have you gone through these steps and really want to bring your idea to life? Then come have coffee with us sometime.
