What is the Ideation Phase?
After all the research is done the next step is to come up with solutions, no matter how bad or crazy they are. This is more commonly known as the Ideation Phase. This can become stressful at times since one or a combination of these ideas will be the official starting point for the actual design. There are many times were we want to jump into designing the actual product, app, design, or whatever it may be with colors, images, and text. However, doing that will create more problems and some really good possible solutions may be lost in the process. After all, we all want it to be the best it can be and as “perfect” as we can make it. Even though the final design usually is not exactly the great idea we have at the beginning of the ideation phase, it still allows for ideas to blossom, and new or even better ideas can emerge.
My App Research
While trying to figure out what app to create, I took a look at the apps I constantly use on my phone and those I use but not like I use other apps. I don’t use my phone very much as other people do. I only use it to contact people through calls and texts, to use social media, to listen to music, to use the calendar, have alarms, and to check and send emails, and other than that, that’s it. The apps I frequently use and love include:
- Snapchat
- Gallery
- Amazon Music
- Spotify
- YouTube
- YouTube Music
After seeing the kind of apps that I a constantly using I realize that they are all connected in one way or another. These apps help to create, save, and show memories or to make new ones. I also realized that I love to share my memories in images and videos when it comes to traveling in particular. Even the music helps in creating memories when I travel since it brings everyone together to have a great time. I love to travel and can’t wait to do it again, so creating an app to help with everything travel-related can be very beneficial and interesting to create.
My Idea for the New App
I love to travel just like everyone does and right now during this pandemic traveling has become very limited or non-existent for many people. However, holding onto hope that someday we will travel normally again, I would love to have an app where it helps to find new places to visit, things to do, places to eat and drink at, and even stores to go to. There should even be a spot on the app where the locals go and what the locals do to gain a new and once-in-a-lifetime experience. I often still find myself going to the same spots, stores, restaurants, and doing the same things every time can get boring.
Dream Escapes can help provide easy and great experiences on the trip even including the transportation to get there. While it will help to arrange transportation, find places to go to, to eat at, stores, activities to do, and go where the locals go and do what they do, but the app will also help manage the money part of the trip. While no one wants to worry about that part while they are having fun, some people need to, so having it all in one spot can be very useful and helpful for the user.
Ideation Techniques/Methods Used
Sketch/Sketchstorm
To get an idea of what the possible solutions could look like for this app, I was able to sketch out a few ideas of what different screens can look like while having new and creative ideas develop along the way. This method allows me to sketch out the ideas without them being perfect or very detailed, and instead, the ideas are simple while rough and giving just enough detail to get the idea across.
Worst Possible Idea
Coming up with ideas can be very overwhelming, difficult, and some people can even have anxiety during the idea session. This happens because people want to have the best possible ideas and to have them be as “perfect” as possible. So by coming up with the worst ideas will help to relieve all that stress and anxiety and be able to relax through the process. Using this method helps to get the creative juices flowing, people are not so serious the whole time, and it can be fun and empowering for many people who struggle with coming up with ideas. Once there are enough bad ideas or no more can be thought of, it’s easier to come up with the best version of the bad idea that could work.
Below is the entire ideation process:
Conclusion
These ideation techniques allowed me to come up with creative and unique ideas without any stress for my idea and concepts for the travel app, Dream Escapes. The sketch method really allowed me to be creative and relaxed since I love to draw and create. Since I am visual person I was able to easily show my ideas rather than writing or listing them out. On the other hand, using the worst possible idea method was a fun way to come up with the best possible ideas. Realizing what the worst ideas could possibly be that will make the app really bad, then there was less stress and no anxiety while flipping it around and coming up with ideas to make sure the app is the best it can be. Overall, using both of these methods allowed and will allow me to combine the ideas to create a well-designed and functional app.
Resources:
- Dam, Rikke Friis, and Teo Yu Siang. “Introduction to the Essential Ideation Techniques Which Are the Heart of Design Thinking.” The Interaction Design Foundation, July 2020, http://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/introduction-to-the-essential-ideation-techniques-which-are-the-heart-of-design-thinking.
- Stevens, Emily. “What Is Ideation In Design Thinking? A Guide To The Most Important Ideation Techniques.” What Is Ideation? A Guide To The Design Thinking Phase, CareerFoundry, 19 Oct. 2020, careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-ideation-in-design-thinking/.
Michaela Ganezer 