Generating ideas: From darkness to brightness

Created by : Les 7 Sens
Last update : August 17, 2018


Going through a stage of negativity before rebuilding can be a relevant stimulus: seeing everything in black is part of our human nature, no matter what we say, and turning on the light in the dark can be useful for building.


1. Positive defensive dynamics

2. Facilitating the exit of resistance to change

3. Stimulating group coherence while having fun

A few tips: 

- Take the time to formulate the darkness (20 to 30 ideas is enough).

- Especially take the time to turn on the light in the dark.

- Never stop the process until you have clarified the question by finding relevant answers.



Reverse the challenge or research

Begin to formulate the question asked or the problem to be solved. It is your creative challenge that you will formulate in the form "How to..."

Reverse your Creative Challenge by formulating it as "how to..." (name the opposite of what you are looking for).

For example: "how to make the team's workspaces better organized to co-design, share... efficiently" becomes "how to make the collaborators' workspaces as disorganized as possible, the most "messy" and how to make any type of collaboration impossible.


Look for dark (negative) ideas

Together, look for all the ideas you can think of that respond to the opposite of the challenge and are the shadow of the challenge. Each idea is marked on a post-it of a pale color with a D (dark) written on it.


Look for 3 bright (positive) ideas

Small teams of 3 people work on 3 "D" post-its. 

They look for ideas opposite to those proposed (at least 3 B (bright) ideas for each D idea) and write them on fluorescent colour post-its with a B. Be daring enough to come up with interesting ideas, try shifting your way of thinking... inspired by switching from a D idea to a B idea.


Refine and look for new bright ideas

Once the ideas have been put forward, the teams will look for 3 other B ideas from 3 new post-it D ideas (at least 3 B ideas for a D idea). Some of the more stimulating D ideas are further explored by several groups, while other D ideas are abandoned.


Find and enrich bright ideas

All fluorescent color post-its with a B on them are displayed.

The group reads the ideas and tries to improve them:

- by proposing another B idea inspired by a B idea

- by completing a B idea by clarifying it.


Select bright ideas

Based on the criteria defined in advance in relation to the objective, the subject and the context, make your choice of relevance together. Ideally, limit yourself to 3 criteria.


Synthesizing: telling the story of novelty

Tell two stories: one to your best friend and one to your child. These are the stories of the transformation of what used to be wrong - it used to be black, dark, and it has evolved into what it is today: bright, light, visible and interesting.

Les 7 Sens

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