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Ideation Constellations: A method in connecting unlikely ideas

I am one of the lucky few to have experienced s p a c e β€” CJ Holden, Holly Ransom and Adam Ferrier’s otherworldly conference-festival hybrid of such brilliance I now find myself ruined for any other event. Still shimmering with figurative stardust, I’ve returned to Earth feeling more purposeful than ever in my ambition to elevate our collective future.

So in this spirit, one small step I can take right now is to share an ideation method I’ve developed for exploring the array of unexpected connections that lay dormant between unlikely ideas. Fuelled by your imagination, these connections can then be extrapolated out to create something unique. The ideas you stumble upon might be world-changing, or simply make somebody smile. Both should be celebrated.

In developing this method, I set the measure of success around a playful business concept of mine called The Fakery Bakery β€” a service offering homemade cakes you can pretend you “made yourself” (more about this on my LinkedIn profile). I’ve often thought of this as being a fairly unique idea. However, in theory, it’s actually just one of many ideas yet to be found and explored in the seemingly-saturated baking industry. I had hoped my method would lead me to them… And it did.

Here’s how it went down. (Feel free to play along.)

Step 1: Choose two seemingly unrelated ideas and apply them to the framework below. By ‘ideas’, I mean literally anything that takes your fancy (serious, playful or otherwise). In my case, I chose baking and trolling β€” the two unlikely themes that combine to differentiate The Fakery Bakery within the market.

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Step 2: Next, plot out the spectrum of both ideas from extreme (on the wide end of each section) to mild (on the narrow end of each section).

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Step 3: Then,plot the simple connections that exist between the segments of each spectrum (shown in pink below). You might also make connections within the same spectrum.

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From these new connections, we can then make even more secondary connections (in orange below), and so on.

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Step 4: Next, explore how each connection might apply in the real world. Applications might resemble products, services, experiences, apps, narratives β€” anything at all. I’ve included some of the more interesting applications I found below.

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Maybe there’s a business case for some of these ideas. Maybe there isn’t. Either way, the method works! πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

Before you get started, here are some tips to guide you in exploring your own Ideation Constellations:

  1. Pick unlikely combinations of ideas for unexpected results.
  2. Make as many connections as possible β€” one will eventually ignite your imagination.
  3. Aim for crazy and then nudge it back to reality β€” that way you’ll find connections that push the boundaries of what’s possible. We all love an idea that’s so crazy it just might work.

For those who are feeling particularly adventurous, try connecting three or more ideas. The method can be adapted like so:

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If my method leads you to any fun, thought-provoking, or even world-changing ideas, please, please, please get in touch. I would love to hear them.

As a final note β€” A big shout out to Synergy Group for sending me to #spaceseries. Synergy is a brilliant place to work. Would recommend. πŸ‘

Ok, Erin out! (smoke bomb)