Do you need to diverge or to converge?
Need to create new associations and ideas?
Your workshop participants need more stimuli for fresh perspectives. In this case, rather then looking for a specific symbol, people stretch their imagination by making new associations between the task and the Clues.
This works well when
1) the problem statement (e.g. a How-Might-We question) is already defined, or
2) when you ask the participants to list insights on a specific topic (e.g. ‘create sticky notes with your associations and experiences regarding a recruitment process’).
Need to express and highlight existing thoughts?
The participants already know what they want to express, but they need a quick way to symbolize it. This could mean visualizing journey maps, prototyping, making personas, creating stakeholder- or value flow maps. This way all the information is much easier to memorise.
If you use Creative Clues as way to visualize your work, it’s best to hang up the sheets on the walls so everyone can browse through the content to find metaphors.
How to use Creative Clues to solve problems and get new ideas.
Select appropriate sticker sets at the beginning of the session, and distribute the sheets.
Explain to the participants that they can move the stickers around and draw on them with a permanent marker. Then:
Define a How-Might-We question based on your research, insights, or upcoming trends.
You can use these elements to define a problem statement to work on:
5 minutes for silent ideation.
Have a short round of braindumping. Ask participants to silently write down the solutions to the problem statement.
Do not use the Clues at this stage just yet. The goal here is to collect the first, obvious ideas.
Use visual stimuli to develop new associations and ideas.
Spend one round – about 5 minutes – asking each person to make associations between the problem statement and the Clues. Remind them not to search for a perfect illustration, but rather stretch their imagination to find new and surprising connections.
You can give the participants examples of what to think about. If someone gets “Industries and Objects” set, she or he could consider how would a hotel industry solve our problem? Or by using “Needs and Value” as stimuli, one can ask if there are any unmet needs, such as belonging, we didn’t consider and can make use of.
Each person individually takes a sticker, puts it on a piece of paper or a sticky note and writes a brief explanation.
Once the round is over, you can share the ideas and repeat the process.
Did you know…
that the light glue we use makes it easy to move and re-use the stickers?
The stickers are printed on a special foil with a light glue. That means within first 48h you can easily move them around. After that point you can still re-use the stickers, although the glue might be a bit more dry. If you are careful and put the stickers back on the sheets, you can most likely use the Clues for three workshops.