Scamper
Josh Linkner has a quality post on the Scamper creativity method. Excerpt:
Advertising legend Alex Osborn not only founded one of the most successful ad agencies in the world, BBDO, he also coined the phrase “brainstorming” and is credited for inventing the technique. Later in his career, he invented another technique that is lesser-known, but one that is incredibly powerful: SCAMPER. This name is an acronym and stands for:
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Magnify/minimize
Put to other use
Eliminate
Rearrange / reverseThe SCAMPER technique can take you right back to the limitless creativity you had in Kindergarten. This structured approach has you start with a concept and then try out different variations on the theme.
For example, let’s look at the world of breakfast cereal which pretty much began with the Corn Flake (the initial “creative spark”). Here are some ways General Mills, Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats and Post put elements of the SCAMPER technique to work in their product development efforts.
