Standard Oral Brainstorming

Much of HCI concentrates on how to critique existing designs. What is more difficult is figuring out how to generate successful new designs, especially designs that are grounded in the real-world needs of the users. While it may be tempting to simply start building prototypes, it is almost always better to start by generating a collection of ideas. Ideas, even impractical or silly, help to create an active design space in which to work. Generating a wide variety of ideas gives designers more options and different problem-solving strategies. In our experience, prototypes are almost always richer and more creative when the designers have started with some form of idea generation exercise.