Learn how to brainstorm ideas around the principles of circularity.
Concept creation is all about going broad, generating lots of ideas, and then narrowing down into what feels relevant to the challenge at hand. Initially, it’s important to keep an open mind without judgement, and apply a critical lens only after you have gone broad.
Steps
Step 1
Start by getting your core team together. Brainstorms are most effective when you have a group of people and are able to build on each other’s ideas.
Step 2
To jump in, a good brainstorm always starts with a good question. Here are some example questions to get you started:
How might we make our product or service more modular/adaptable?
How might our product be inspired by living systems?
How might we turn our product offering into a service?
How might our product be refurbished over time?
Step 3
Now that you have an idea of how this works, what questions might have arisen from your User-Centred Research that you want to explore? What else can you brainstorm that could make your offering more circular?
Step 4
Using a concept sheet, sketch out ideas that come to mind as you brainstorm. Go for quantity. Defer judgement. Encourage wild ideas. Build on the ideas of others. Be as visual as possible. This isn’t the time to second guess your ideas. Just get them out there and keep going!
Step 5
Once everyone has sketched out a variety of ideas. Put them all up on a board. Use something like post-its or stickers to vote on the ones you are the most excited about. What do people gravitate towards?
Circular Design Guide
This page is part of the Circular Design Guide. Get an overview of the project, or dive straight into our activities to help you understand, define, make, and release circular innovations.
